MELBOURNE: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic beat Australia’s Alex de Minaur 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 to continue his pursuit of a record-extending 10th men’s title at the Australian Open.
Djokovic, 35, still had his left thigh strapped but he looked in no trouble as he won
The fourth seed will play Russian Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals.
Rublev, seeded fifth, saved two match points – and fought back from 5-0 down in a final-set tie-break – to beat Danish teenager Holger Rune.
Djokovic has been wearing strapping all tournament to protect a hamstring injury and asked for treatment in a medical timeout during his third-round win over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
But, despite the concerns of his fans, he moved freely in a confident win against De Minaur, which took two hours and six minutes.
“I kept my focus all the way through to play my best match of this year so far,” said Djokovic.
