Ten-time champion Novak Djokovic is into a record-equalling 15th Australian Open quarterfinal after taking care of 24th seed Jiri Lehecka in straight sets on Sunday evening.
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Having outplayed Lehecka’s countryman Tomas Machac 48 hours earlier, the Serb was solid throughout another test against a talented young Czech, continuing to ease through the bottom half of the draw 6-3 6-4 7-6(4).
And so it’s on, the blockbuster everyone wanted. Djokovic’s 98th match win in Melbourne sets up an eighth meeting with third seed Carlos Alcaraz in what will be the Serb’s 61st Grand Slam quarterfinal.
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Alcaraz moved through much quicker earlier on Sunday when his fourth-round opponent Jack Draper was forced to retire with a hip injury after the second set.
The only real surprise of the evening came when Djokovic approached on-court interviewer Jim Courier after the match, with everybody inside Rod Laver Arena expecting the standard back and forth.
Instead, the seventh seed took the microphone to quickly address the crowd before disappearing into the night.
“Thank you very much for being here,” he said. “I appreciate your presence and support and I’ll see you next round.”
It was another successful outcome for Djokovic’s partnership with new coach Andy Murray – a man he outplayed in four of the 10 finals he has won at Melbourne Park.
Beating Lehecka this year has been one of the toughest assignments in tennis. The 23-year-old came into the match undefeated in 2025, riding an eight-match win streak after claiming the second title of his career in Brisbane. Djokovic, though, largely made the task look easy.
Back in the press room, Djokovic said he is satisfied with his tennis.
“I think the last two matches have been really high level,” he explained.
“I played two Czech players that are in a really good form. Lehecka won a tournament in the first week of the season. He's been feeling the ball great.”
The only problematic spell came late in the third set, when Djokovic found himself at 30-all when serving at 4-5. Two big serves steadied the ship before he wrapped things up a few minutes later.
In truth, Lehecka was too erratic during the early stages of the match which allowed Djokovic to build a healthy lead.
The Czech struggled to control the new balls in the seventh game of the opening set during a poor service game that featured a flurry of unforced errors. Djokovic pounced to break and closed out the set after 37 minutes, winning 12 of the last 14 points during that opening chapter.
Again, too many errors flowed from the Czech’s racquet early in the second and Djokovic, going for a record 25th Grand Slam title in Melbourne, broke for the second successive time.
When Djokovic took Lehecka’s serve again in the first game of the third thanks to a double fault, it looked like the match was done. But the world No.7 followed that up with his only poor service game of the night to allow his opponent to level.
The set stayed on serve until that tricky 10th game for Djokovic, and once he’d negotiated that test they were into a tiebreak.
The shootout came to life during the fourth point as Djokovic produced his best tennis of the evening. He dug up a Lehecka overhead, took control of the point with some incredible anticipation and finished off with a backhand pass to move ahead 3-1.
Try as he did, Lehecka just couldn’t quite reel Djokovic in, and the multiple AO champion finished the task after two hours and 39 minutes.
As for his next test, Djokovic will draw confidence from his 4-3 head-to-head record against Alcaraz. The 37-year-old won their most recent meeting at Roland-Garros in Paris last summer to claim an Olympic gold medal.
He also edged their only meeting on an outdoor hard court, one of the most titanic and memorable Masters 1000 finals in recent years in Cincinnati during the summer of 2023.
“I'm expecting a big battle, as it's the case in most of our matches where we faced each other,” Djokovic said.
"He's very dynamic, explosive player. Incredibly talented. Charismatic player. Great to watch; not that great to play against.
"I look forward to it. I think when the draw was out, a lot of the people were looking forward to potential matchup in quarterfinals, Alcaraz versus me. So here we are.”
Fire up the popcorn. Bring it on.