Sinner toughs it out through medical episode to reach last eight

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Defending champion and top seed Jannik Sinner overcame a debilitating medical episode as well as Dane Holger Rune to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the third time with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory on Monday.

The world number one had looked like continuing his serene progress through the draw when he wrapped up the opening set after 33 minutes on the back of two breaks of serve.

The 23-year-old started to struggle physically early in the second set, however, and appeared even weaker after stretching in vain for one return.

"Today was a strange morning, I didn't even warm up ... I knew in my mind that I would struggle today," Sinner said.

"It was for sure, very, very tough, I knew he had some very long matches before this one so I tried to stay there mentally. I just tried to stay connected with my service game and then on the returning game, just trying to see what happens."

Rune was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and moved his opponent around the court as much as possible, the 13th seed c...
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