Ten-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic recorded his 400th victory in Grand Slam tournaments in his toughest match to date in 2026 in Melbourne. The 38-year-old Serb fell to the court at one point in the match and struggled seriously, but defeated the awkward Botik van de Zandschulp (Netherlands) 6:3, 6:4, 7:6 (7:4). This is also Djokovic's 102nd victory in Australia, equaling the record of Swiss Roger Federer, BTA reported.
The match lasted two hours and 46 minutes, and Djokovic justified his role as a favorite in the third round. Botik van de Zandschulp started weakly, at the end of the match he played a little better, but not enough to surprise the big winner.
From the very beginning of the match, Djokovic looked ready and without much trouble managed to gain an advantage thanks to a break in the fourth game, which gave him the opportunity to win the first set relatively routinely with a score of 6:3.
Then the problems began for Van de Zandschulp due to a right shoulder injury, which was also evident in the game of the 75th strongest tennis player in the world. So Djokovic started the second set even more convincingly with two consecutive breaks, after which the Dutchman requested a medical timeout. This helped him and he played much more confidently, even returning a break, saving two break points in a very long game, but that was all and in the end the Serb took a 2:0 lead after 6:4.
The third set started similarly to the previous two, but now Djokovic had to request a medical time-out after the third game due to a slight injury to his right leg, which was quickly treated by the medical team. His opponent used this time to refresh himself and to reach those three break points, which he eventually achieved. However, Djokovic returned the break immediately and this actually saved him from more difficulties. However, the match went to a tiebreak, where at the end the Serb picked up the speed and this brought him the final victory in three sets.
Djokovic's next opponent in the fourth round will become clear from the match Jakub Menshin – Ethan Quinn, which will be played tonight.
In another third-round match, Tyler Fritz (USA) defeated veteran Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) in four sets. Wawrinka struggled in the first two, but then slowed down and Fritz won 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 45 minutes. Wawrinka said goodbye to the crowd after the loss, then grabbed two beers from a courtside refrigerator, opened them and clinked the cans with the tournament director, then greeted the crowd. “Cheers everyone!“, said Wawrinka, 40. “And thank you very much!“ Wawrinka won the first of his three Grand Slam titles in Australia in 2014.