A rejuvenated Bernard Tomic is settling in for the long haul as he prepares to slog it out with Roberto Bautista-Agut for a place in the last 16 at Wimbledon on Saturday.
Tomic admitted he desperately needed Friday off after toiling for almost six hours to reach the third round.
"That's a bonus to me," the 19th seed said after needing four sets to see off Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot and five sets over two days to deny Fernando Verdasco.
"If I had to play (Friday), then I'd be in a little bit of trouble."
Bautista-Agut, by contrast, has only played three sets against Australian Jordan Thompson in his opener.
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He received a walkover in the second round against Mikhail Kukushkin and now Tomic is hoping the 14th seed may be a little underdone.
"He hasn't played that much tennis and I have played a lot of tennis. It will be interesting," Tomic said.
But the Spaniard showed his class by taking the opening set against world No.1 Djokovic at the French Open and Tomic knows he's in for a battle.
"He's going to run for every ball. This is why he's almost a top-10 player," the Australian said.
"I think he's at his best ranking now, the last six months, playing amazing. He's just a fighter.
"Nothing to lose now. And it's a good third round.
"It's very tough for both of us, but you're not playing a Djokovic, not playing a (Roger) Federer.
"So I have to look at this match and go for it. Because if I do that, I should come out on top.
"But it's going to be very, very tough."
Victory would vault Tomic into the fourth round for the third time, with either fourth seed Stan Wawrinka likely to be block his path to the quarter-finals.
