Sinner overcomes cramps, heat to continue Australian Open title defense. Djokovic gets 400th win

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Limping and desperately trying to stretch out cramps in his arms and legs, Jannik Sinner had just gone down a break in the third set when the extreme heat rules saved him.

Play was suspended for eight minutes while the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday afternoon, and the two-time defending Australian Open champion returned a revitalized man.

After being on the verge of an unlikely exit — one of his coaches, Darren Cahill, was urging the 24-year-old Italian just to stick it out for a few more games — Sinner won five of the next six games to take the set against No. 85-ranked Eliot Spizzirri.

Another 10-minute "cooling break" between the third and fourth sets followed — an allowance under the extreme heat policy — and Sinner returned for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory that highlighted a dramatic contrast of intense light and shade.

“I struggled physically today. I got lucky with the heat rule," Sinner said, agreeing that the cooler indoor conditions suited him much more than the energy-sapping heat of the first two sets. “I try to stay calm even in a moment like this. If he keeps playing the way he was playing, maybe I was dropping a little bit, maybe my tournament was over today. I don’t know."

Spizzirri was magnanimous about it, adding: “ That’s the rules of the game, and, you know, you got to live with it.”

Novak Djokovic became the first player ever to notch 400 match wins at the majors when he beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in a night match.

The 24-time major winner improved his win-loss record to 102-10 at the Australian Open, equaling Roger Federer’s career haul for the most-ever match wins at the season’s first major.

Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka withdrew because of an abdominal injury before her scheduled third-round match against Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis, ending a campaign noted strikingly for fashion and friction.

That sent Inglis into a fourth-round match against No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek, who had a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 win over Anna Kalinskaya.

No. 4 Amanda Anisimova beat Peyton Stearns 6-1, 6-4 in an all-American encounter and will next face Wang Xinyu, who upset No. 13 Linda Noskova.

No. 5 Elena Rybakina advanced to a fourth-round match against No. 21 Elise Mertens.

The 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka lost 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to No. 9 Taylor Fritz and then grabbed two beers from a courtside ice box, cracked the cans with the tournament director and bid farewell to the crowd. “Cheers everybody! ” he said.

Fritz will next face No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti, who held off Tomas Machac 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to become the third Italian man to reach the fourth round.

No. 8 Ben Shelton beat Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Margaret Court Arena and said having the roof closed “just amplified the noise.”

An earlier start than usual on Day 7 was no worries for defending champion Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula. No. 9-seeded Keys beat Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-3 and No. 6 Pegula defeated Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-3, 6-2.

Next up for the two Americans, and podcast pals, is a fourth-round encounter against each other.

Play was suspended on outside courts for five hours from the mid-afternoon until around 7:30 p.m. local time.

The temperature was around 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) when the tournament’s so-called heat scale hit a maximum of 5 in the mid-afternoon. The temperature Saturday didn’t quite reach the forecast maximum of 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The maximum forecast for Sunday is 24 C (75 F).

Sinner will next play fellow Italian Luciano Darderi, who beat No. 15 Karen Khachanov 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Reflecting on his drama at 3-1 down in the third set, the No. 2 seed said he was just trying to survive.

“It started with the legs. Got to the arms. I was cramping a bit all over,” Sinner said. “This is an area I know I need to improve.”

In the second set, Sinner was given a rare time violation by chair umpire Fergus Murphy as he was preparing to serve. In a show of sportsmanship, Spizzirri intervened, approaching the umpire and saying he hadn't been ready to receive.

He had the crowd on his side, until Sinner's movement became visibly wobbly.

Under the roof — with the glare gone, the temperature easing across the third and fourth sets and the radiated heat from the court plummeting — the momentum swung.

“I don’t know if he got saved by it,” Spizzirri said. “I smiled a little bit when the heat rule went into effect, just because it was kind of funny timing. But at the same time, the game at 2-1 in the third set was when it hit, I think it’s 5 (on the heat scale), which means that the heat rule is in effect. So whenever that game was over, whether I broke or whether he held, we were going to close the roof.”

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