Novak Djokovic has extended his remarkable run of success against Italian opposition to a 12th straight year with a straight-sets victory over Andreas Seppi in the third round of the Australian Open.
The world No.1 won 6-1 7-5 7-6 (8-6) to move through to a round-of-16 encounter with 14th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, who smashed Argentina's Federico Delbonis 6-3 6-2 6-1 earlier on Friday.
Djokovic has won 33 successive matches against Italians, with his only Tour-level defeat against a player from Italy coming against Filippo Volandri way back in 2004.
"I play mind games with them - I speak Italian," joked the five-time Australian Open champion.
"But no, there's no particular reason."
The longer the match went on, the better Seppi played.
He had two set points in the third-set tiebreaker but was unable to convert either of them as the Serb went on to claim the win in two hours and 21 minutes.
"I started the match very well," said Djokovic.
"I had great intensity and I felt I played some very solid tennis for the first 30 or 40 minutes.
"Then he stepped up and started serving very well."
Seppi had beaten Roger Federer at the same stage of last year's Open - his first victory over a top-10 player at a major.
Djokovic has advanced to the second week of a grand slam for the 27th straight time.
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