Andy Murray’s exhausting Australian Open ends with loss

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic’s hamstring just about held up as the hot favorite battled into the Australian Open last 16 on Saturday, but Andy Murray’s heroic run is over.

Hard-hitting Aryna Sabalenka, meanwhile, burnished her title credentials as she barreled through, along with several other women’s seeds.

An ailing Djokovic had heavy strapping and needed treatment twice on his troublesome left hamstring before defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.

The Serb will face home hope Alex de Minaur for a place in the quarterfinals as he closes on a 10th Melbourne Park crown and a record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title.

“Obviously, I didn’t know how I’m going to feel physically, it was going up and down,” said Djokovic.

“It was an incredible battle, three sets over three hours. Let’s rest up and prepare for the next one.”

Djokovic’s fellow 35-year-old Murray will not join him in the next round, however, as the Briton’s 4:05 a.m. finish eventually caught up with him.

Former No. 1 Murray was clearly feeling the effects of his epic five-setter in round two, which started on Thursday but ended in the early hours of Friday.

The 24th-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut won 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-4 and faces unseeded Tommy Paul of the US.

“I gave everything that I had the last three matches — I’m very proud of that,” said Murray.

“But I’m also disappointed because I put loads of work into the beginning of this year and was playing well enough to have a really good run, have a deep run.”

Also in the men’s draw, fifth seed Andrey Rublev surged into a clash with Holger Rune — then thanked his beaten opponent Dan Evans for giving him a banana mid-match.

The Russian crushed the Briton 6-4, 6-2, 6-3