\n<\/p>\n
Djokovic said he showed “a lot of guts” to come back from a set down in humid conditions to beat inspired qualifier Yannik Hanfmann and reach the fourth round.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old Serb looked sluggish in the first set but recovered to win 4-6 7-5 6-3 in two hours and 42 minutes.<\/p>\n
Djokovic will face unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar in the last 16.<\/p>\n
“The crowd got me up, and towards the end of the second set I started to get into it more,” said the world number five, who leaned on the vociferous local support throughout the match,<\/p>\n
“I have often had to fight in matches that maybe I wasn’t the better player – battling through is something I am quite familiar with throughout my career, but I hung in there and showed a lot of guts.”<\/p>\n
Hanfmann is ranked 150th in the world and made it through qualifying to set up what would have been only the second victory of his career against a player in the world’s top five.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old took the first set with an ace after claiming 17 winners to Djokovic’s 10, with the 24-time Grand Slam winner failing to force a single break point. <\/p>\n
Djokovic looked to be struggling with the heat and humidity, throwing water over his head after holding for 3-2 in the second set. <\/p>\n
“It’s brutal when you have over 80% of humidity day after day – particularly for the guys when they’re playing during the day with heat, with sun, it’s even more brutal,” added Djokovic, whose matched finished after 9pm, local time.<\/p>\n
“For me, biologically, it’s a bit more challenging to deal with it, but I had to really weather the storm today. Yannick played an incredible match from the beginning.”<\/p>\n
Djokovic slowly upped his levels and finally forced his first break points of the match with Hanfmann serving to stay in the second set at 6-5.<\/p>\n
The spectators cranked up the decibel levels as Djokovic smashed a winner to take the set and level the match, then pointed to his ear in celebration to acknowledge the support. <\/p>\n
Hanfmann’s accuracy waned in the deciding set and after firing a forehand long to hand Djokovic a break at 3-1, the Serb served out the set to make it through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n