Djokovic battles through to Rome tennis quarter-finals

ROME (AFP) - Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic survived a marathon battle against Russian Igor Andreev on Thursday to book his place in the Rome Masters quarter-finals.

Following his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in 2hrs 42mins the Serbian third seed will now face Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

Almagro received a bye after Chilean 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez pulled out of the tournament with a leg injury.

Djokovic did not have things entirely his own way under the Italian sun, quite unlike the stroll he enjoyed in Wednesday's second round against Belgian Steve Barcis.

He took the first set but was broken early in the second and struggled to hold his own serve as his form deserted him.

But Djokovic, who leads the Champions race after his first Grand Slam success at the beginning of the year, found something extra in the decider and scraped through.

Andreev's biggest problem was his failure to take break point chances. He managed to convert only two of 11 opportunities compared to Djokovic's three from five.

Djokovic acknowledged he had found it tough against the Russian.

"He plays his best tennis on clay so I'm very happy," said the Serb.

In the other early match Czech Radek Stepanek ousted Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna in three sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 and could face world number one Roger Federer next if he overcomes Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Djokovic and Federer are still scheduled to meet in the semi-finals but the third seed didn't want to look that far ahead.

"I don't know, Almagro is a good player. I've played one more match than him but physically I hope to recover for tomorrow," he said.

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