Wawrinka relishing marathon matches at Aus Open, Pliskova embraces underdog role

MELBOURNE, Jan 23 : The Australian Open third round continues on Saturday with defending champions Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys in action while the brutal Melbourne heat has forced organisers into an early start.

Former champions Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka and Stan Wawrinka are playing in the night session.

TOP MEN'S MATCH: WAWRINKA V FRITZ

Wildcard Stan Wawrinka is savouring every moment of his farewell Australian Open, even after grinding through another five-set thriller that has left the 40-year-old Swiss veteran with nearly eight hours of court time already under his belt.

The 2014 champion, who throughout his career has thrived when matches go the distance, advanced to the third round with a gruelling victory over Arthur Gea.

Wawrinka, who boasts an unusual career distinction of winning more Grand Slam titles than Masters events, believes the best-of-five-set format plays to his strengths.

"Grand Slams have always been in general better for me. I feel that I have more time to put my game, to find solutions," said Wawrinka, who has three majors to his name.

"Also I have good confidence in my fitness level that I can handle those long matches. For me, that's not a problem to really keep it up with the level."

He will face his biggest test yet against American ninth seed Taylor Fritz, who has dropped only one set so far despite coping with a knee injury.

"I'm probably getting a bit overconfident with how it feels because I'm on anti-inflammatories and stuff. It's obviously masking the pain," Fritz said.

TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: PLISKOVA V KEYS

Karolina Pliskova finds herself in the unfamiliar position of massive underdog as the former world number one attempts to rebuild her career from the bottom of the rankings after a year lost