Europe 1 with AFP 7:21 p.m., January 19, 2023

It was by gritting his teeth very hard to contain the pain emanating from his left thigh that Novak Djokovic qualified for the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday, a stage also reached by Andy Murray in the middle of the night. and after 5 hours 45 of match.

Very reduced Thursday evening by a thigh injury which has handicapped him for ten days, Novak Djokovic managed to beat the Frenchman Enzo Couacaud (191st in the world) 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-0 in the second round of the Australian Open.

But his behavior on the court, with a medical time-out, multiple grimaces, aborted runs, obvious attempts to shorten points, is worrying before facing the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (28th) in his quest to equal the record of 22 Grand Slam titles held by Rafael Nadal.

"I'm worried and I have reason to be," he himself admitted later, without wanting to go into details about the nature of the injury.

In 2021, he tore his stomach in the third round against Taylor Fritz but he held on until the end and won the tournament for the ninth time.

"This time it's different and I don't know what will happen," he said.

>> READ ALSO

- Tennis: Rafael Nadal announces an absence of 6 to 8 weeks following his injury in Melbourne

The nervous "Djoker"

In fact, and despite a flattering score in the last two sets, he let his nervousness show when he suddenly asked the referee for the expulsion of a spectator who was too noisy for his taste.

"There's a guy, drunk as a pig, taunting me from the first point. What are you going to do? Why don't you ask security to get him out?"

the Serb asked the referee at 2-0 in the fourth set.

The four troublemakers were effectively sent off during the next change of sides.

And "Djoko" completed the match.

It was 4:06 a.m. on Friday when Murray (66th) and Thanasi Kokkinakis (159th) hugged each other: the Scotsman had just finally put an end to a 5:45 a.m. tussle with the score of 4-6, 6-7 (4/ 7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5.

The record at the Australian Open therefore remains the final won by Djokovic against Nadal in 2012 in 5h53.

"Yes, I have a big heart," said Murray, who had already taken 4:49 to overcome the Italian Matteo Berrettini (14th) in five sets and having saved a match point on Tuesday in the first round.

"Go back two sets, I've already done it! So I relied on my experience, my love of the game and of competition", he explained, he whose previous longest match had lasted only "that" 5:07.

>> READ ALSO

- "Catastrophic": Gilles Moretton is loose on the "failure" of Gerard Piqué's Davis Cup

Ruud in extremis

Ruud, 3rd in the world and finalist of the last US Open, also on hard court, saved four match points before finally losing to the American Jenson Brooksby (39th) 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4 /7), 6-2.

So that, now without Nadal and also in the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, for the first time since 2002 (Hewitt, Kuerten, Agassi) a Grand Slam tournament is deprived of the three best in the world from the third round.

"I'm very proud of the mental toughness I showed after losing the third set," said Brooksby, who is playing in his very first Australian Major at 22.

Everything went very well, however, for the French Caroline Garcia (4th), who beat the Canadian Leylah Fernandez (40th) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, showing herself to be superior in aggressiveness.

"Winning the first set was a bit of a hold up because she was always in front and she won her service games more easily than me," admitted the 29-year-old Frenchwoman who will face the German on Saturday. Laura Siegemund (158th) for a place in the round of 16.

Ditto for Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (5th) who took less than an hour and a half to get rid of American Shelby Rogers (51st) 6-3, 6-1 with 32 winning strokes.

The 24-year-old, who had reached the round of 16 of the last two Australian Majors, will try to do the same on Saturday against Belgian Elise Mertens (32nd).

>> DISCOVER HERE

- Tennis: this astronomical sum that the winner of the Australian Open will win

lost illusions

It's over, however, for the American Taylor Fritz (9th), beaten by the Australian Alexei Popyrin (113th and beneficiary of an invitation) and for the German Alexander Zverev (13th) who lost against the American Michael Mmoh (107th), drafted from the qualifications.

In the night, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur who had become in Melbourne in 2020 the first Arab player to climb into the quarters of a Major, was beaten by the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (86th) 6-1, 5-7, 6- 1.

The world N.2 was obviously very physically diminished.