09:20 AM
Djokovic* 6-2, 2-0 De Minaur (next server)
Djokovic once again gets one sniff of a break and suddenly there’s a greater intensity but De Minaur saves break point with a fine serve that fires up the crowd. Earlier Djokovic had established his control by pinning his opponent to the baseline. But one break-point save is not enough as De Minaur pushes a pair of forehands long after being manipulated from side to side, with whip and dip. Djokovic breaks down the door.
09:14 AM
Djokovic 6-2, 1-0 De Minaur* (next server)
Can’t help but feel a little sorry for De Minaur. Having never played Djokovic before, it must feel like being taken to school. Since 2-2, Djokovic has lost only four points but, credit to him, and his opponent, he says ‘Bravo!’ when De Minaur flashes a backhand return winner at 40-love then wins the next point, too. Djokovic enjoys a streaky net cord that plays with his opponent’s timing and De Minaur duly overcooks the forehand. Hold to 30.
09:08 AM
Djokovic* 6-2 De Minaur (next server)
Rare error from Djokovic who spies a forehand winner up the line but crashes it into the net. He rather makes up for that with a stunning backhand drive up the line to square it at 15-all.
De Minaur counters with a heavy, wide serve that Djokovic can’t get back over the net. The nine-times champ keeps stretching and flexing that left hamstring but it doesn’t see to be hampering his movement as he turns tables on De Minaur with magnificent defence to take the next two points and earn set point.
And he needs only one chink of light to take the set, engaging in a 10-plus stroke rally until De Minaur’s poise and precision breaks and he loops a forehand long.
09:04 AM
Djokovic 5-2 De Minaur* (next server)
Djokovic wins his seventh, eighth and ninth points in a row. What he’s doing looks relatively simple but it’s the relentlessness of his ability to arc forehands on to the baseline or at worst two inches in front, which gives De Minaur no room to attack only, at best, to block. And the blocking allows Djokovic the freedom to fire a serve-volley winner to hold to love.
09:01 AM
Djokovic* 4-2 De Minaur (next server)
De Minaur had been playing well but comes off his seat too timidly and then makes a couple of errors. Djokovic pounces to move to love-40. This is predatory. He only needs one of the break points as he makes De Minaur run around his forehand to the left of his ad court and he can only pan it into the net. Surprised he didn’t use the backhand. Djokovic is a shark.
08:54 AM
Simon Briggs reports from Melbourne
Rod Laver Arena sounds very polite early on. Warm encouragement for De Minaur, but no sense of real partisanship. Andy Murray had a much bigger share of the noise in his match against Roberto Bautista Agut, for instance. That might change if people actually start to believe that De Minaur can win
08:54 AM
Djokovic 3-2 De Minaur* (next server)
Until now it has been hard to see how De Minaur can trouble Djokovic’s serve but the defensive resilience and pushing Djokovic to the extent of his ad court on the backhand take shim to 30-all for the first time on Novak’s serve. Cue Djokovic’s third ace and then a monster serve that De Minaur can only hook wide to hold to 30.
08:51 AM
Djokovic* 2-2 De Minaur (next server)
De Minaur likes a cap. The Tony Pulisifiction of tennis over the past 20 years continues. He begins his second service game with a double fault but storms back to 30-15 when, first, Djokovic’s backhand return is hooked three inches wide and then when his lob drifts long.
De Minaur’s second serve, which is not up to scratch normally, stands up and elicits the error from Djokovic, with a misplaced forehand drive but Djokovic rallies to take the game to deuce for the first time in the match. De Minaur’s defence holds up to move to advantage but then a glorious gun-slinging forehand rally, Djokovic walloping his groundstrokes so close to the line on the legal side, is shaded by Djokovic. Deuce.
Djokovic is flirting with the baseline with every forehand he strikes, the depth allowing him to keep De Minaur behind it but, once more, superb defence from the Australian, keeping in rallies, allows him to hold when Djokovic pushes a couple of drives long.
08:41 AM
Djokovic 2-1 De Minaur* (next server)
A couple of wonderful strokes from Djokovic, the second of them more of a shot than a stroke, a backhand winner driven up the line, earns him a 40-15 lead. De Minaur strikes back with a powerful forehand but Djokovic follows up with a serve that arrows towards De Minaur’s feet and he can’t keep his return in bounds. It’s the closest game so far but even so never seemed in doubt.
08:38 AM
Here’s Simon Briggs at courtside in Melbourne
Good evening from Melbourne. There’s a restless hubbub in Rod Laver Arena because people are coming in late, delayed by the near-four-hour thriller betwen Andrey Rublev and Holger Rune that preceded it.
08:38 AM
Djokovic* 1-1 De Minaur (next server)
The crowd sounds as though it’s fairly evenly split though there’s definitely more of an edge of excitement in the cheers of those behind the home hero, De Minaur, who moves to 40-love with a kick-serve that surprises Djokovic and follows that with an ace. Wow. Hold to love against the best returner in the business, perhaps of all time.
08:35 AM
Djokovic 1-0 De Minaur* (next server)
De Minaur won the toss and elects to receive. They begin with a 14-stroke baseline rally, Djokovic painting the baselime, moving De Minaur around until he nets a forehand. An unreturnable serve followed by an ace help him race to 40-love, the latter at 196 kmh (122mph).
But De Minaur gets into the game with a blistering forehand return … but only momentarily as Djokovic trebuchets down a second ace, this one down the centre-line to hold to 15.
08:28 AM
The players are out on the court
Djokovic in his Lacoste, De Minaur in Asics and they are having a knock up. Won’t be long now. De Minaur’s defence has been magnificent over the past couple of weeks but does he have enough weapons, assuming Djokovic’s hamstring holds, to trouble the great champion?
08:16 AM
The players are still warming up inside
De Minaur is getting his feet moving in the gym. Djokovic is not currently on screen. Lleyton Hewitt is asked about De Minaur’s chances and says, “It’s going to be a massive challenge but his win over Rafa at the United Cup has given him great confidence and he will leave everything out there. The crowd will be willing him on and he’ll feed on that. He loves playing for Australia, playing for the green and gold, and this will be like a home Davis Cup match.”
Hmmm … not so sure. The Serbian diaspora in Melbourne usually makes a racket for Novak.
08:03 AM
The winner of this match
Will play Andrey Rublev after his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(11) victory over Holger Rune in the fourth round this morning.
07:54 AM
Preview
Good morning. Novak Djokovic is on track for a record-extending 10th Australian Open title but question marks remain over his fitness before today’s fourth-round match against with Alex de Minaur as his injured left hamstring continues to cause problems.
Djokovic, the No4 seed, defeated Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the third round but fears about the durability of his injured hamstring only grew as the Serbian once again struggled. All eyes will be on the bandages that festoon the left hamstring as the 35-year-old takes on home favourite De Minaur who, like Djokovic, has dropped one set in Melbourne so far.
“It’s really difficult to say with Novak exactly what’s happening physically. He’s getting the job done, he certainly doesn’t look like he’s [100] percent,” seven-times Grand Slam champion John McEnroe told Eurosport.
Asked if De Minaur could cause issues for Djokovic’s injured hamstring, McEnroe added: “De Minaur is someone potentially [who could do that] because he relies on speed and grit and making an opponent work.
“The type of guy that could cause Novak problems if he’s not 100 percent.”
The last two men to beat Djokovic in singles at the Australian Open, Chung Hyeon and Stan Wawrinka, have had to take him to the wire, the latter in terms of sets, the former in tie-breaks and however bad the hamstring is, I am sure De Minaur will have to do the same. The head-to-head gives us no sense of what might happen as they have never met before in a competitive match, which makes this a relative rarity in the modern age.