Novak Djokovic showed a chink of vulnerability but survived as the world number one battled past France’s Gilles Simon in a five-set thriller at the Australian Open.

Djokovic has now lost only once in his last 32 grand slam matches but he was given a scare on Rod Laver Arena, before winning 6-3 6-7 (1/7) 6-4 4-6 6-3.

The Serb was well below his brilliant best, hitting a mammoth 100 unforced errors, but he is safely through and will now meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.