Saturday 24 January 2015 13:13, UK
World No 1 and top seed Novak Djokovic overcame a nervous start and feisty Fernando Verdasco to power into the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday.
The Serb beat 31st seed Verdasco 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 6-4 in an entertaining contest on Rod Laver Arena to set up a meeting against Luxembourg's Gilles Muller for a place in the quarter-final.
Djokovic, who is the favourite for his fifth Australian Open title following Roger Federer's shock exit in Friday's third round, made just two service breaks.
Verdasco, who had beaten Djokovic in four of their previous 10 encounters, failed to get a service break in the Serb's 16 service games.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion hit 43 winners and showed exquisite touch around the net while serving at a high 73 per cent.
Djokovic's serving was a feature, winning 82 per cent of his first serves against the former top-10 player.
Physically, I feel fit now and I'm always motivated to play well in Australia and this is my most successful Grand Slam.
The Spaniard had taken Rafael Nadal deep into the night in a five-hour, five set marathon during the 2009 semi-finals in Melbourne and he harassed Djokovic at the start but once the Serb sealed the first set tie-break after an hour of the tense baseline battle he ran away with the match.
"I did serve well and that helps when you are playing big servers like Fernando, who put a lot of pressure on your service games, so you have to stay composed and hang tough," Djokovic said.
"I tried to go more for accuracy and precision and allow myself to have an easy first ball and managed to have a lot of free points, which definitely helped.
"Physically, I feel fit now and I'm always motivated to play well in Australia and this is my most successful Grand Slam."
US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori served at 65 per cent, hit 49 winners and made 24 unforced errors and only lost his serve once in a dominant 6-7 (7-9) 6-2 6-2 6-3 victory over young American Steve Johnson on Hisense Arena.
The 25-year-old, a superstar at home, will face either Spain's David Ferrer or French 18th seed Gilles Simon in the fourth round.
"He was playing aggressive, hitting really deep, good serves. I really couldn't do anything," Nishikori said of the opening set.
"The tie-break is always tight points. I just couldn't hit through. I didn't want to risk it too much. So that's why I couldn't get the tie-break.
"After playing the first set, I started feeling little bit better, not relaxed, but no pressure. I started thinking about just going for everything."
