Zeenews Sports Bureau
Melbourne: In an epic clash that lasted for five hours and two minutes, defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6 7-5 6-4 6-7(5) 12-10 at Melbourne Park to move into the quarterfinals.
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The Swiss wrapped the first set in just 25 minutes and the World No. 1 was trailing 2-5 in the second after which he bounced back to bag it 7-5.
Wawrinka’s serves troubled Djokovic throughout the match, but the Super Serb kept his cool and proved to be the better of the two players. The Serb was full of praise for his Swiss opponent.
“He has ability to beat the best players in the world, and he has proven that on several occasions on different surfaces. He's using that power and the serve. He's really moving well over the court. He's reading the game. So he came up with great tactics today,” Djokovic said.
Wawrinka on the other hand was disappointed after playing his heart out yet took the positives from the game.
“Especially I was dealing with myself all the five hours, trying to always find solutions, trying to always fight against me and against him to stay with him. At the end I was really, really close. For sure I'm really sad. But I think there is more positive than negative,” the Swiss said.
Djoker celebrated his emphatic win by tearing his T-shirt, like he did after winning the final last year in another epic battle against Rafael Nadal!
Djokovic is seeking to become the first man in the professional era to win three successive Australian Open titles. He will now lock horns with fifth seed Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals after he defeated South Africa's Kevin Anderson.
First Published: Sunday, January 20, 2013, 20:18