Seeded No. 7 in the table, Novak Djokovic won 6-1 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 6-2 in front of Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria (ATP 125/21 years old) on Wednesday. This game was played under the roof of the Rod Laver Arena, the rain having arrived in the afternoon in Australia.
Novak Djokovic, who is aiming for a historic 25th coronation in a major tournament, recovered perfectly after the loss of the second round. He did not concede a single service game in the last two sets, erasing only one break point in the process.
The 37-year-old Serbian, who played his 430th Grand Slam match on Wednesday – one more than Roger Federer – concluded it by hitting his 14th ace of the day. He will come up against the Czech Tomas Machac (ATP 25) in the round of 16, against whom he remains after a defeat in the semi-final of the last Geneva Open.
