PTI

London, Jun 29: Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic battled into the quarterfinals at Wimbledon with a 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt on Monday.

Djokovic, who plays fifth seed Andy Roddick or Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun in the next round, gave a typically gutsy display to edge past the 2002 Wimbledon champion.

The 2008 Australian Open champion had crushed Albert Montanes and Taylor Dent in his last two matches but this was a much more draining experience.

Hewitt had been tumbling down the rankings this year before halting his decline in spectacular fashioN at Halle earlier this month as he battled back from a set down to hand Roger Federer only his second defeat on grass in 78 matches.

It was Hewitt's first ATP Tour title for over a year but he hadn't been past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since 2005 and that run has now been extended as Djokovic out-hit him in a hard-fought baseline battle.

Djokovic admitted he had prepared himself for a gruelling match because he knew Hewitt would be tough to overcome on grass.

"We both expected a long and difficult match. We played a long match here three years ago and it was something similar this time," Djokovic said.

"It could have gone either way but I played the right shots at the right time.

"I was fortunate to pull out a break at 4-4 in the fourth set and then I played a great service game."