Djokovic wins another Australian Open marathon

MELBOURNE, Australia - The opponent was different, the match three rounds earlier. Still, the result gave Novak Djokovic a familiar feeling.

The Serb needed a little more than five hours to beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 12-10, in a fourth-round match Sunday night in the Australian Open, on the same court where he needed 5 hours, 53 seconds to beat Rafael Nadal in last year's final.

"I just had flashback of 2012," Djokovic said. "I tried to enjoy the moment and couldn't ask for more."

He wasn't exaggerating about the match point. On his third attempt to end it, his backhand crosscourt shot zipped past the valiant Wawrinka, who, Djokovic conceded, had outplayed him for most of the night.

The win was Djokovic's 18th in a row at Melbourne Park, after he won the last two Australian titles, and it put him in the quarterfinals of his 15th consecutive major tournament.

Wawrinka, who had been receiving treatment to his upper leg muscles from late in the fourth set, said he would take more positives than negatives out of the match. He led, 5-2, in the second set after outplaying Djokovic in the first.

"For sure, I think the best match I have ever played," Wawrinka said. "I fought like a dog like always. At 4-4 in the final set, I thought I might have won the match, but he was just better."

Djokovic now faces No. 5 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who needed five match points in the tiebreaker before beating South Africa's Kevin Anderson, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (13).

Fourth-seeded David Ferrer won, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, beating No. 16 Kei Nishikori of Japan to set up a quarterfinal against fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who was leading, 6-2, 5-1, when No. 8 Janko Tipsaveric retired from their match.

Maria Sharapova advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kirsten Flipkens in another impressive display - last year's French Open champion has lost just five games through four rounds, breaking the Australian Open mark of eight held previously by eventual champions Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

"A couple that I've won, I felt like I was playing great from the beginning and I was able to carry that through the whole tournament," said Sharapova, who won titles in 2004 at Wimbledon, 2006 in the U.S. Open, and 2008 in Australia before completing her career Grand Slam with a victory in last year's French Open.

She next plays fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who beat fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, 7-5, 6-4. Sharapova defeated Makarova in the quarterfinals here last year on her way to the final, which she lost in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

In Monday's action, No. 1-ranked Azarenka raced to a 3-0 lead in nine minutes on the way to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Russia's Elena Vesnina.

Next up for Azarenka is another Russian, 27-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, on Monday.

Serena Williams was to meet Maria Kirilenko of Russia later Monday. Also scheduled were Swiss star Roger Federer vs. Milos Raonic of Canada, and Andy Murray of Britain vs. Gilles Simon of France.