Jannik Sinner may have felt lucky to survive the Australian Open third round but he rebounded quickly in a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (2) win Monday over fellow Italian Luciano Darderi to reach the quarterfinals for a ninth consecutive Grand Slam event. The two-time defending champion struggled with the extreme heat and cramping in his Saturday afternoon win over No. 85-ranked Eliot Spizzirri, and only took control after the roof was closed in the third set.

Sinner later admitted he got a bit lucky with the timing of the extreme heat policy being invoked, leading to an eight-minute break to close the roof. He was also able to refresh in a 10-minute extra cooling break between the third and fourth sets. In an evening match in cooler conditions Monday, he was cruising until Darderi lifted his tempo in the third set. Second-ranked Sinner missed match points in the 10th game on Darderi`s serve but then took it up a notch in the tiebreaker.