Tsitsipas beats Paire without realising it to reach last 16

MELBOURNE : Stefanos Tsitsipas staved off the incendiary Benoit Paire to reach the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday with a tough 6-3 7-5 6-7(2) 6-4 win but appeared not to realise the game was over after converting match point.

Paire dunked a forehand into the net on the first of three match points when serving to stay in the match, but fourth seed Tsitsipas walked to the back of the court rather than approach the net.

The Greek turned around at the baseline with a look of surprise on his face, before walking forward to acknowledge Paire.

"I'm pretty glad with that win, Benoit is someone I say is one of the biggest stars in our game," said Tsitsipas, a former semi-finalist at Melbourne Park.

Having held Paire at bay at Rod Laver Arena, the Greek crumbled in the third set tiebreak to let the Frenchman back into the match.

Paire kept in touch to 4-4 in the fourth set before conceding the match points with a double-fault.

Tsitsipas will meet American Taylor Fritz for a place in the quarter-finals.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)