Melbourne, Jan 21: Experts hailed the five-hour thriller match between tennis star Novak Djokovic and 15th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka at the fourth round of Australian Open on Sunday, Jan 20 as an "epic battle".

Djokovic won 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 12-10 to advance to the quarterfinals of 2013's first tennis grand slam event. The victory once again proved why Djokovic is regarded as the best tennis player in the world. The marathon match lasted exactly for 5-hours and 2-minutes.

"I've been in these situations before," Djokovic said shortly after his exhilarating win over Wawrinka, which began on Sunday evening and finished at 1:41 am on Monday.

"I remember last year when I won against Murray in the semis after (almost) five hours and then played against Rafa (Nadal) in almost six hours."

"I know I can recover. I know I have it in me. I'm not too much worried about the physical part. I was ready for it. I was ready to go the distance and I've done so."

"Hopefully, I can take tomorrow (Monday) off and recover for quarters."

Djokovic praised Wawrinka saying, "he deserved equally to be a winner." Wawrinka left the court in tears after a heroic performance.

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