Roger Federer has booked his place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open by beating Kei Nishikori in a thrilling five-set match in Melbourne.
The 35-year-old overcame his fifth-seed opponent 6-7(4) 6-4 6-1 4-6 6-3 in a time of three-and-a-half hours to earn a place in the last eight of a Grand Slam for the 49th time in his glittering career.
Federer made a slow start to the contest as he twice lost serve early on in the opening set, finding himself four games down against the three-time quarter-finalist in this event.
The Swiss would then take five games on the spin to set up a tie-break in a mammoth opener, which Nishikori claimed 7-4 to take a big step towards his latest last-eight appearance Down Under.
Fan favourite Federer earned the only break of serve in the seventh game of a more straightforward second set, however, and Nishikori was clearly rattled as he he saw his service game broken on three occasions in a pivotal third set to fall behind in the match.
Nishikori did ensure that the thriller would go all the way by holding throughout the fourth set, but it was his opponent who raced into a three-game lead in the decider to set up a meeting with Mischa Zverev - the conqueror of Andy Murray earlier today.
Daniel Lewis
