Injury concern for Novak Djokovic as he makes fourth round

Djokovic, seeded 14th at Melbourne Park after missing the second half of 2017 due to an elbow injury, required treatment on another problem after an hour of his third-round match.

The Serb had taken the first set 6-2 but needed a lengthy break for treatment.

Still, he was back on court to take the next two 6-3 6-3 and will now face Hyeon Chung, who beat Alex Zverev, in the fourth round.

"Nothing major," Djokovic told reporters after setting up an intriguing inter-generational battle with South Korea's young gun Chung.

"I knew I wanted to use the medical timeout because I needed it, but at the same time I knew it was nothing major that can potentially raise the question mark on whether I can continue playing or not," he added.

"I haven't played for six months. We have to take that into consideration. I'm kind of forced to be very cautious of what happens day-to-day. I deal with it. It's fine. I finished the match. I'm very pleased for that."

Chung showed another sign of his promise by coolly closing out a five-set win over German fourth seed Alexander Zverev, a player many pundits have widely tipped as a future grand slam winner.

"I'm really pleased with where my game is at at the moment. I'm looking forward to the next challenge," said Djokovic.

"He (Chung) is playing great. He's fit. He doesn't have too many holes in his game. He's very nice guy. You can see he's a hard worker. It pays off.

"Into the second week, it's going to be a game of small margins. So let's see what happens."