Serbia's Novak Djokovic [Images] recovered from dropping his first set of the tournament to beat American Amer Delic 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the third round of the Australian Open [Images] on Friday.
The defending champion lost the second set after a brief lapse in concentration but regained his composure to win the next two, despite being pushed to a tie-breaker in the fourth.
Delic, who was promoted to the main draw as a lucky loser when Nicolas Kiefer [Images] pulled out, troubled the world number three with his booming serve but Djokovic's big-match experience proved decisive.
Djokovic's next opponent will be either Mardy Fish [Images] or Marcos Baghdatis [Images].
Safina powers past Kanepi
World number three Dinara Safina clobbered her way into the last 16, her 6-2, 6-2 win over Kaia Kanepi a triumph of force over finesse.
The third seed was joined in round four by fellow-Russian Nadia Petrova [Images]. The 10th-seeded Petrova sauntered through in double-quick time when Galina Voskoboeva quit after losing the first set 6-1.
The Kazakhstan player retired with a back injury.
Safina's big brother Marat Safin [Images] features in the tournament's first juddering clash of tennis juggernauts later on Friday when the 2005 winner takes on 13-times Grand Slam champion Roger Federer [Images] under the floodlights.
Safina advanced effortlessly with an easy victory over the Estonian 25th seed to reach this stage for the first time.
"There's a first time for everything," she beamed. "Twice I lost in the third round. I was like this today: 'this is the third time -- should be the luckiest one'.
In truth she needed little luck and bludgeoned her way to victory in 66 minutes.
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