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AAP
AAP
Oliver Caffrey

Zverev survives Open epic to book quarter-final spot

Alexander Zverev won a five-set roller-coaster against Cameron Norrie to reach the quarter-finals. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

German sixth seed Alexander Zverev has survived his second five-set epic of the Australian Open to advance to his third quarter-final at Melbourne Park.

Zverev took more than four hours to hold off English 19th seed Cameron Norrie 7-5 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6 (10-3) in one of the matches of this year's Open.

It was the 32nd five-set match of the tournament, breaking a 26-year record at the Australian Open.

Zverev's dramatic fourth-round contest with Norrie had everything, with play briefly stopped after a protester tossed leaflets reading "free Palestine" on to Margaret Court Arena.

The 26-year-old was able to move on from the delay to down the brave Brit, who was trying to reach his first Australian Open quarter-final.

"This is a grand slam, everybody's playing their best here and Cam has definitely been playing amazing tennis, so I'm just happy to be through," the German said.

Zverev had a massive scare in the second round when he was pushed to five sets by Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein.

Zverev will likely meet second seed Carlos Alcaraz, who is up against unseeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, in the quarter-finals.

The Olympic champion last made the final-eight at Melbourne Park back in 2021, a year after he made the semi-finals. 

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