Grigor Dimitrov believes his midnight burner against Richard Gasquet will help, not hinder, his Australian Open title prospects.
The Bulgarian world No.15 outclassed Gasquet 6-3 6-2 6-4 in the latest-starting match in Australian Open history.
The third-round contest began at 11.58pm on Saturday and finished at exactly 2am on Sunday - but Dimitrov has no complaints after extending his winning streak to eight matches in otherwise quick time.
"We had matches in the past finishing four, five in the morning," he said without a hint of fuss.
"Whatever it is, it's in the game. I just had to deal with whatever was in front of me. Yeah, I'm just moving along now.
"The past couple of days I've been going to bed pretty late just to get the feel going to bed late. I don't fall asleep if the match goes on.
"Again tonight, I'm just happy I finished in straight sets and I didn't have to waste more energy or more time on the court."
The winner of the season-opening Brisbane International believes the late-night workout - which had nothing on the famous fourth-round clash between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis back in 2008 that ended at 4.34am - can only have served him well.
Dimitrov said he would be raring to go in his fourth-round shot at Novak Djokovic's second-round slayer Denis Istomin on Monday.
"A match like that, it helps me," Dimitrov said.
"It helps me to have more confidence, to feel better on the court, more secure in my shots. Just a lot of positives. I take a lot of positives out of that match.
"The first couple of matches were so-so in my opinion. To be able to come tonight and step up against a player like Richard, it means a lot to me."
Should Dimitrov beat Istomin, the world No.117 enjoying the grand slam ride of his life, he'll play either eighth seed Dominic Thiem or 11th seed David Goffin in Wednesday's quarter-finals.
