Karlovic rolls back years in 5-set win

Melbourne - Ivo Karlovic, the oldest man at 38 in the Australian Open men's draw, advanced to the third round with a titanic five-set win over Japan's Yuichi Sugita on Wednesday.

The 89th-ranked Croat needed over four-and-a-half hours in stifling heat before extinguishing the No 41 ranked Sugita 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 4-6, 12-10 on an outside court.

Karlovic, who turns 39 next month, faces another tour veteran in 33-year-old Italian Andreas Seppi in the third round.

The Croat extended his record as the oldest man to win a Grand Slam match since Jimmy Connors was 40 at the 1992 US Open with his win over Sugita, 29.

The big-serving Croat served up 53 aces, made 110 winners and just two service breaks in the marathon match.

Results from the Australian Open on Wednesday:

Men's singles

2nd round

Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP x10) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-2, 3-0 ret

Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) bt Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) 7-5, 6-1, 6-3

Andreas Seppi (ITA) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4

Gilles Muller (LUX x23) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN) 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 3-6, 6-2

Kyle Edmund (GBR) bt Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-2, 6-2, 6-4

Marin Cilic (CRO x6) bt João Sousa (POR) 6-1, 7-5, 6-2

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x15) bt Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5

Damir Dzumhur (BIH x28) bt John Millman (AUS) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1

Ryan Harrison (USA) bt Pablo Cuevas (URU x31) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) bt Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 4-6, 12-10

Women's singles

2nd round

Denisa Allertova (CZE) bt Zhang Shuai (CHN) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)

Marta Kostyuk (UKR) bt Olivia Rogowska (AUS) 6-3, 7-5

Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x15) 6-2, 6-3

Elina Svitolina (UKR x4) bt Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Luksika Kumkhum (THA) bt Belinda Bencic (SUI) 6-1, 6-3  

Petra Martic (CRO) bt Irina Begu (ROM) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK x19) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-4, 0-6, 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x2) bt Jana Fett (CRO) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5

Magda Linette (POL) bt Darya Kasatkina (RUS x22) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2