MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic continued his quest for a sixth Australian Open title with victory over Andreas Seppi, but the top seed was less than impressed with his performance en route to the last 16.
Djokovic claimed a 12th consecutive win over Seppi, prevailing 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (6) at Melbourne Park on Friday.
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The 10-time Grand Slam champion, however, did not have it all his own way against the 28th-seeded Italian, especially in the third set when he was forced to fend off two set points in the tiebreak.
And speaking afterwards, Djokovic lamented certain aspects of his game on Margaret Court Arena, a rare match away from Rod Laver Arena.
"It's not easy to stay with him on the baseline. So I think that I started very well," Djokovic said. "A set and then a couple of break points early in the second — I didn't use that. He started serving well, I backed up half a step back and he started playing more aggressive tennis, not as many unforced errors.
"I think I served my way out of trouble several times. But certainly I must be pleased with a straight-sets win because both sets, especially the third, could have gone a different way.
"But I'm still not very satisfied with certain parts of the second and third set. I think I could have done better. But, again, I played a quality player who took out Federer last year here and who has been on the Tour for many years. He is not afraid to play big tennis on a big stage. He likes it.
"We practiced a lot [together], so we know each other's game well. It was a great test. It was a physical match, a lot of exchanges from the baseline. I'm just glad to go through."
In a week overshadowed by allegations of match-fixing on the professional circuit, Djokovic was asked if Friday's clash was difficult to prepare for and he said: "I understand how I need to carry myself. Obviously this subject of conversation, I would say speculation, has come up and it's not a regular subject of press conferences.
"But it is what it is and we expected it. When we heard the story would come out, we all expected we were going to get questions from you guys. I'm just glad that I still didn't get any in this press conference because I have nothing more to say there.
"The story that was supposed to be big is not really big. I guess we have to shut it down."