Concerns over a hamstring harm will not maintain again Novak Djokovic when he confronts his “Balkan brother” Grigor Dimitrov within the headline act of third-round motion on day six of the Australian Open.
Djokovic’s shares have risen at Melbourne Park as he ramps up his pursuit of a tenth Open crown, following the shock exits of prime two seeds Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud.
But the Serbian famous person was troubled by his sore left hamstring throughout a second-round win over Enzo Couacaud and has been restricted in his preparation.
He has spent most of his time between matches specializing in rehabilitation, relatively than follow, working with medical employees across the clock.
Next up is a conflict with acquainted Bulgarian Dimitrov, who Djokovic has overwhelmed in 9 of 10 earlier encounters.
The pair final met in Paris in 2019 and have by no means accomplished battle in Melbourne, with Dimitrov’s solely overcome Djokovic approaching Madrid clay virtually a decade in the past.
“Hopefully it’s going to be an entertaining match,” Djokovic mentioned after dispatching French qualifier Couacaud.
“He’s been playing some great tennis, I know him really well.
“We’re good pals off the court docket, Balkan brothers, so let the higher participant win.”
Djokovic was one of a host of players affected when extreme heat and rain wreaked havoc on the schedule early this week.
It created a backlog of matches that had to be crammed into the schedule, many late at night.
Djokovic’s third-round commitments didn’t finish until well after midnight on Friday morning.
“That’s clearly one thing that you simply simply have to just accept and take care of,” he mentioned.
“I imply, it is best-of-five for us guys.
“Yeah, it’s not perfect that when you finish a match (at about midnight) and then you have to do recovery, so forth, and you go to sleep, 3, 4, 5am.
“It impacts restoration and the following day. The good factor is you’ve got a day between the matches, on a optimistic notice.”
In Saturday’s other matches, Australian hopes Alexei Popyrin and Alex De Minaur, the 22nd seed, take on American Ben Shelton and France’s Benjamin Bonzi respectively.
Seeds Andrey Rublev (five) and Dan Evans (25) do battle, while Andy Murray takes on Roberto Bautista Agut (24) after his epic five-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Women’s seeds Aryna Sabalenka (5) and Elise Mertens (26) meet in an intriguing contest and Belinda Bencic (12) takes on Camila Giorgi.
