Roger Federer survives huge scare; Novak Djokovic eases through

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer faced down local battler John Millman 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8) in a five-set thriller on Friday night to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open and restore some normality to Melbourne Park after a day of big upsets.

The 20-times Grand Slam champion made an extraordinary 82 unforced errors to go with 62 winners as he went toe-to-toe with the world number 47 over more than four hours on Rod Laver Arena to secure his 100th Australian Open victory.

Millman, who got the better of the Swiss at the 2018 US Open, had all the early momentum and won the opening set before Federer grabbed the second on a tiebreak and the third with a late break of serve.

The tireless Australian was never going to fold, however, and took the fourth set before forcing the third seed to battle back from a break down to seal the victory in the tiebreak.

Champion Novak Djokovic put on an impeccable serving display against Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka to canter to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win in the third round, staying on course for a record-extending eighth title at Melbourne Park.

The Serb, who defeated another Japanese in Tatsuma Ito in his previous round, smashed 17 aces, won 93% points on his first serve and faced just a single breakpoint against the hapless Nishioka in the match that lasted only an hour and 25 minutes.

Considered widely as the best returner of first serves and baseline player among contemporaries, Friday's match at the Rod Laver Arena showed that Djokovic was also right up there with the best servers in the game.

In astonishing statistics, the second seed lost just a single point on serve in the first two sets and eight overall against the 24-year-old Nishioka.

"Definitely one of the best serving matches I've had lately, inspired by my coach Goran Ivanisevic," Djokovic said.

"There are a lot of technical details you can talk about, but sometimes less is more. It's all about the rhythm and balance ... So far, it's been working really well."

Djokovic, who beat Rafa Nadal in last year's final to win a record seventh Australian Open title, broke his left-handed opponent's serve once in the first set, twice each in the next two, and hit 40 winners.

The victory on Friday was the 21st straight win for Djokovic at Grand Slams against left-handed players since the 32-year-old Serb lost to Nadal in the 2014 Roland Garros final.

Djokovic will next meet Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who beat Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-2 6-3 7-6(7) earlier on Friday, an opponent the world number two termed as "one of the quickest players on Tour".

Canadian Milos Raonic served and volleyed with robotic precision to bundle Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the Australian Open with a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(2) victory in the third round.

Raonic, who reached the last four at Melbourne Park in 2016 and the Wimbledon final the same year, hit 19 aces and 55 winners and did not give ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas a single breakpoint opportunity in the match.

Spanish ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut was beaten by Marin Cilic in a marathon 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 match. Agencies

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