Top-ranked Novak Djokovic needed four sets to overcome Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round of the Australian Open 2012.
The defending champion eked out a 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory over Hewitt.
Djokovic looked to be headed towards an easy win when he took a two sets to love lead before Hewitt bounced back to win the third. In the end, Djokovic closed out the match in the fourth set.
He will now take on David Ferrer in the quarter-finals after the Spaniard defeated Richard Gasquet in straight sets in the fourth round.
The Serb took a 3-0 lead in the third set before losing his way and going down 4-6 in the set. However, he recovered well in the fourth set to close out the match. Earlier, he was so dominating in the match that Hewitt only managed to hold his serve for the first time in the 12th game of the match.
In the first four rounds, Djokovic had only lost 10 games before Hewitt took 13 off him in this match.
Djokovic has now won 18 Grand Slam matches in a row and needs three more wins to clinch his third successive Grand Slam tournament.
