Novak Djokovic bared his teeth to finish off Denis Istomin and ex-tend the hottest winning streak in tennis to 27 matches in the third round of the Australian Open yesterday as a cool front brought respite to Melbourne after a four-day heatwave.
Serena Williams earlier made light of the last of the scorching temperatures, which again peaked around 42 degrees Celsius, to blast her way into the fourth round for the loss of only a dozen games.
China’s Li Na escaped defeat by a matter of centimetres in her third round match, while Spain’s David Ferrer continued carving his way through the men’s draw largely unnoticed.
Ferrer’s compatriot Tommy Robredo caused the biggest upset of the day by edging ninth seed Richard Gasquet 2-6 7-5 6-4 7-6 in an evening thriller disrupted briefly by rain.
Djokovic’s last defeat was against Rafa Nadal in the US Open final and Istomin never looked like stopping his winning run at 26 matches under the closed roof of the Rod Laver Arena.
Looking to become the first man in the professional era to win four consecutive Australian Opens, second seed Djokovic raced through the first two sets in 70 minutes (6-3 6-3) before the Uzbek suddenly upped his aggression to break as the Serb was serving for the match.
Visibly piqued, Djokovic was in no mood to risk the possibility of giving up his first set of the tournament and broke back immediately before overwhelming Istomin 7-5 with the power of his shots to convert his second match point.
“I feel better on the court as the tournament is progressing,” said Djokovic, who will take on his Italian friend Fabio Fognini for a place in the quarter-finals.
“Things got tense towards the end of the match. I didn’t want to drop the third set, obviously, so I was very focused to get the job done in straight sets.”
Temperatures are forecast to plummet today, a huge relief to players and organisers alike after four days of rows over what constitutes dangerous conditions.
“I definitely look forward to playing in the cooler temperatures,” said Williams, whose 6-3 6-3 win over Daniela Hantuchova was a record 61st at the Australian Open, taking her past local great Margaret Court’s 60.
That Williams achieved her victory without firing on all cylinders was another warning to her rivals that her 11-title 2013 season was by no means a final flourish at the end of her career.
The next hurdle in the 32-year-old’s path to a sixth Australian Open title is Ana Ivanovic after she ended Sam Stosur’s hopes of winning her home grand slam for another year with a 6-7 6-4 6-2 victory on Rod Laver Arena.
Ferrer’s attritional style was made for hot conditions and he survived a second set wobble to wear down Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and reach the fourth round at a 15th consecutive grand slam with a 6-2 7-6 6-2 victory.
Ranked and seeded third after Andy Murray missed the back end of last season, Ferrer next faces Florian Mayer with Tomas Ber-dych or Kevin Anderson waiting in the quarter-finals.
Li staged the most dramatic escape of the day when she faced a match point against Czech Lucie Safarova, who failed to convert it by the smallest of margins when her backhand down the line was called out, a decision confirmed by Hawk-Eye.
“I think five centimetres saved my tournament,” said Li, who rallied to win the subsequent tiebreak and then seal a 1-6 7-6 6-3 win.