Back in the record books: An irritative Novak Djokovic keeps his cool to win 400th Grand Slam match

Novak Djokovic won a mind blowing 400th Grand Slam match in his third round tie against Botic Van de Zandschulp, defeating him 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) to make it to the last-16 of the Australian Open.

So far in this tournament it has been fairly routine for the 10-time champion, with his quest still firmly on to win an unprecedented 25th major title. This could have gone differently today in a tight tussle with Van de Zandschulp. The world number 75 blew set points in what would ultimately be the final set, as a visibly frustrated and angry Djokovic was able to prevail.

There were some hair-raising moments on the Djokovic side of the court throughout. One of them came when he nearly hit a ball girl with a wayward show, with him also letting out a lot of anger and disgust towards members in his box after he started to be dragged into a match of tennis. Fortunately, he was always one step ahead of his opponent, and until late on never really under too much pressure.

The pair both boasted a respectable 75% and 73% first serve points won, but a big difference came in the second serve, with Van de Zandschulp's 43% down on the 38-year-old's 60%. He was also only able to take two break points from a possible seven, letting Djokovic off the hook especially at the end. The big difference was the unforced error count, with Van de Zandschulp racking up 47 compared to Djokovic's 23, firmly placing the odds with him to succeed.

The opening stages proved to be crucial for the first set. Van de Zandschulp was first to create a break opportunity but was unable to take said chance. He was ruthlessly punished a game later by the Serbian who took a 3-1 lead before a comprehensive hold ot love saw him extend his advantage to three games. He would squander a break point late on which also proved to be for the set, but managed to take one of his oportunities in the next game on serve to take the early advantage.

While the scoreline was firmly in his favour, not all was going well on the Djokovic side of the court as the 24-time Grand Slam champion started to get slightly infuriated with himself. It started well, as he secured a double break to sail into a 3-0 lead. This advantage was soon halved with the Dutchman not letting his opponent get out of sight. This was right after he received some treatment on his right shoulder.

The frustrations were starting to come apparent for Djokovic, who was yelling at his box and not displaying the persona of a happy tennis player. He was able to keep his nose in front throughout the set, where a precarious incident occurred when he almost hit a ball girl with a wayward forehand after Van de Zandschulp's effort went out.

There were some drawn out games to finish the second set but a couple of late hold to loves on the Djokovic serve was enough to put him one away from another second round showing in the Australian Open.

It looked like he may need to be a bit more patient before getting over the line with Van de Zandschulp nicking a break with his third opportunity. He took a 3-1 lead but in opposite events of the last set, it was Djokovic's turn to get one back. From 3-2 to 6-5, only two points were won against the serve. This trend did a U-turn when Djokovic was serving to force a tiebreaker. Van de Zandschulp jumped the gun and created to set points of his own. Neither were taken, and a tiebreak was needed to split these two competitors.

The resulting tiebreak was close at first, but after it was 3-3 for the change of ends, Djokovic took the reins and never looked back. He won three points on the spin to set him up with a bunch of match points, as he took his second one to wrap up victory on Rod Laver Arena. His next challenge will either be against Ethan Quinn or Jakub Mensik, in a possible rematch of the Miami Open final from last year.