Top seed Novak Djokovic overcame his brief fade-out in the third set of his third round match against Denis Shapovalov but completed a resounding win in the end at the 2019 Australian Open.
The world number one won his 18th successive match against left-handers as he defeated Shapovalov in four sets, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to ensure he will end the tournament as the top-ranked player. Had he lost and Rafael Nadal gone on to win this match, the rankings would have reversed.
Djokovic last lost a match to a left-hander in the 2014 French Open final against Nadal.
Things looked to be going to plan when Djokovic raced to a 6-3, 6-4, 4-2 lead over the Canadian 25th seed but things took a curious turn after that. He dropped his serve for Shapovalov to make it 4-4 and then lost it again to let his opponent back into the match.
However, he rediscovered his mojo in the fourth set, racing off to three breaks of serve and winning it 6-1 in the end.
The Serb will now face the 15th seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who took out David Goffin in straight sets to make it to his first ever fourth round stage match at a Grand Slam. After having been knocked out in the first and second round respectively of the previous two editions of the Australian Open, Medvedev won 6-2, 7-6, 6-3 to advance to round four.
Kei Nishikori also wasted no breath as he romped to a 7-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Joao Sousa in round three after having encountered back to back five-setters in the competition.
The Japanese eighth seed now faces 23rd seeded Pablo Carreno Busta in the round of 16. Carreno Busta overcame Fabio Fognini in a four-setter.
16th seeded Canadian Milos Raonic was a straight-set winner over Pierre-Hugues Herbert and will now take on one of Alexander Zverev and Alex Bolt in his round four match.
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