MELBOURNE: Bulgaria's 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov grabbed only his second career win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open in a super-late match which finished at exactly 2:00 am on Sunday.
After play got underway at two minutes to midnight on Saturday, Dimitrov proved too strong for the 18th-seeded Gasquet, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours, two minutes.
"Lately I've been struggling with my sleeping so I've been going to bed so late, so today it's 2:00am and I'm feeling great," Dimitrov quipped after his early-morning win.
"I've been feeling good with my tennis this week and I am happy to be playing on this court and embracing it as much as possible."
He will now face unseeded Uzbek Denis Istomin in the round of 16.
Istomin, who knocked out defending champion Novak Djokovic in the second round, qualified for the last 16 with a five-set win over Spain's 30th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
Dimitrov is bidding to do better than his quarter-final appearance at the Open in 2014, when he lost to Rafael Nadal.
The Bulgarian grabbed double service breaks in the first two sets and another break in the opening game of the final set.
The match got underway on Rod Laver Arena at 11:58pm local time Saturday and finished at 2:00am.
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