Djokovic prevails in a marathon

Novak Djokovic has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after a gruelling 6-3 6-7(1) 6-4 4-6 6-3 win over French 14th seed Gilles Simon at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.

The world No.1 spent four hours and 32 minutes on court in a display that featured 100 unforced errors, but survived to meet Kei Nishikori in the last eight. 

"Playing against a player like Gilles you can always expect a lot of rallies, he’s always going to make you play an extra shot.  I’m just glad to get through this one," says Novak Djokovic

World number one and defending champion Serena Williams smacked down Margarita Gasparyan to sweep into a quarter-final against Maria Sharapova. The 21-time Grand Slam winner wasted little energy in swatting aside the unseeded Russian 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes at Rod Laver Arena to set up the mouth-watering clash with her long-time rival. Five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova came through an epic 7-5, 7-5 battle against 12th seed Belinda Bencic immediately before Williams came on court. 

Japanese star Kei Nishikori produced his best tennis of the tournament to breeze past former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and into the quarter-finals. Seventh seed Nishikori won 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. 

Agnieszka Radwanska has survived a massive scare to advance to the quarterfinals overcoming a hobbled Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-7(6) 6-1 7-5 at Hisense Arena. 

Paes, Hingis pair advance: 

In an hour and nine minutes, Leander Paes and Matina Hingis defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova-Dominic Inglot 6-3, 7-5 to advance to their second round match.