Dominic Thiem produced an astonishing comeback to defeat Australian Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and 21 minutes.
Kyrgios was at his stunning best in the opening two sets, rallying up the home crowd in order to make the John Cain Arena an extremely hostile atmosphere for Thiem to play in.
The world No 3 looked resigned to defeat but saved two break points in the opening game of the third set to shift the momentum and the match in his favour.
Thiem served almost impeccably from then onward, winning 28 consecutive points on his serve – a streak that started when he came back from those two break-points down.
The solidity on serve meant the Austrian only required one break of serve in each of the next three sets to progress … which he duly did.
Speaking post-match Thiem said he drew on his US Open final comeback victory to inspire him to victory over his Australian opponent: ‘I was already accepting the loss, it was my first match with Nick on his favourite court with this amazing crowd, which is definitely one of the tougher challenges we have in our sport.
‘He was on fire today and when I went behind I was honestly preparing to deal with the loss but somehow I kept fighting, giving up was never an option, I think since the US Open final I have learnt that nothing is impossible.’
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic also required all five sets to win against Taylor Fritz.
The world No 1 seemed to be cruising into the fourth round after taking a two-set lead but a slip at 1-1 in the third set seemed to injure the Serbian’s right side.
Fritz took full advantage of the injury targeting Djokovic’s forehand and drew the match level at two sets apiece.
The crowd were ushered out of Rod Laver Arena just before the American closed out the fourth set, as Australia prepare to go into a national lockdown due to hotel quarantine outbreaks of the coronavirus.
The delay in the match seemed to re-galvanise the Serbian and he started to hit the ball more freely in the fifth to start dictating points again.
Djokovic broke serve consecutively at the end of the fifth set to eventually overcome Fritz’ 7-6 (7-1) 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev had far less troube winning in straight-sets against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
While, Grigor DImitrov is still yet to drop a set in the tournament and won every game of his third round tie against Pablo Carreno Busta, before the Spaniard was forced to retire due to illness, with Dimitrov leading 6-0 1-0.
Elsewhere, 14th seed Milos Raonic avoided the same fate suffered by Stanislas Wawrinka in the previous round by overcoming his Hungarian opponent Marton Fucsovics in four sets.
However, there were some big name casualties as the eighth seed Diego Schwartzman lost in straight sets to qualifier Aslan Karatsev.
The world No 12 Denis Shapovalov also lost in straight sets against his fellow Canadian countryman Felix Auger Aliassime.
In stark contrast to the men’s draw, the top ranked women in the draw wasted little time to progress with Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka, Garbine Muguruza and Iga Swiatek all cruised past their opponents in straight-sets.
With just one British player left in the singles’ of the Australian Open, the focus turned to the doubles’ action where there were victories for the Brits in all three disciplines.
Jamie Murray was playing in the men’s doubles with his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares and they cruised through with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Laslo Djere and Stefano Travaglia.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles Britain’s Heather Watson and her Canadian partner Leylah Annie Fernandez also won in straight sets against Australian duo Olivia Gadecki and Belinda Woolcock.
However, proceedings were less simple in the mixed doubles for Joe Salisbury and his American partner Desirae Kraczyk who required a champions tie-break to eventually defeat Juan Cabal and Chan Hao-Ching 6-4 3-6 [10-7].
