Australian Open | Defending champion Djokovic fends off first-timer Prizmic in 4 hours to advance

Djokovic made his Grand Slam debut at Melbourne Park in 2005 and has developed a record at the Australian Open that no man can match, with 10 titles here among his unprecedented career haul.

Until he took on defending champion Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena in Australia, Dino Prizmic had never played a Grand Slam match.

The 18-year-old Croatian qualifier, who was born seven months after Djokovic made his Grand Slam debut in 2005, made it last as long as he could, unsettling the 24-time major winner at times before Djokovic finished off the match 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.

The first set played out just about as expected. From there, it became quite a ride.

Prizmic took the second set off Djokovic and went up a break in the third, stunning a capacity crowd, before the world's No. 1-ranked player broke back and took the set.

Prizmic didn't give up when he trailed 4-0 in the fourth, either, saving a breakpoint before getting a service break back. He saved three match points at 5-3 down and made Djokovic serve it out. He then saved a further two match points before it ended in 4 hours and 1 minute.

“He deserved every applause, every credit he got tonight,” Djokovic said. “Amazing performance for someone that is 18 years old and never had the experience of playing on a big stage. Kudos to him."

The first of three Sundays — an extra day was introduced at Melbourne Park to try to reduce the number of post-midnight finishes — didn't have quite the desired outcome.