Andy Murray threatened another miracle on Margaret Court Arena but fell to a four-set defeat against Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round of the Australian Open.
The Scot was back at the scene of his late-night heroics against Thanasi Kokkinakis, having done his best to recover from the five-hour, 45-minute epic in which he came back from two sets down to claim victory at 4.05am.
Coupled with a near five-hour first-round win against Matteo Berrettini, Murray had spent 10 hours and 34 minutes on court just making it through to the last 32.
To begin with it appeared he would offer little resistance but he willed himself into the match and improbably took the second set before Spaniard Bautista Agut claimed a 6-1 6-7 (7) 6-3 6-4 victory after three hours and 29 minutes.
The 35-year-old, who has a stiff gait at the best of times, looked like he could have benefited from a walking stick as he hobbled around the court.
He won just one of the first 15 points before getting on the board in the fourth game and Bautista Agut wrapped up the opening set in only 29 minutes.
Murray was quickly down a break in the second as well but he dug in to keep it at that and, willed on by a crowd featuring plenty of Scottish saltires, began to make some headway.
Unexpectedly, Bautista Agut gave the break back to make it 4-4, and Murray battled grimly to stay on terms, saving a break point in the 11th game with a brilliant backhand pass.
Bautista Agut led 5-2 and 6-4 in the tie-break but Murray again would not let go, getting back on level terms and then forcing two set points, of which he took the second.
Murray stood statuesque soaking up the adulation of the fans who now fully believed they might be witnessing something very special indeed.
But Bautista Agut managed to shut out the noise in the third set, finally breaking through to lead 5-3, and an early break for Murray in the fourth proved a false dawn.
Novak Djokovic continued to defy a hamstring injury as a straight-sets victory over Grigor Dimitrov sent him into the fourth round of the Australian Open.
The title favourite admitted after needing a medical timeout and dropping a set to French qualifier Enzo Couacaud that he was concerned, and a clash with 27th seed Dimitrov was a much better test of his physical condition.
He took another timeout after falling to the floor at the side of the court at the end of the first set but, despite continuing to limp and looking uncomfortable at times, clinched a 7-6 (7) 6-3 6-4 victory.
It was only two years ago that Djokovic tore an abdominal muscle during the tournament yet still managed to win a ninth title, and none of his rivals will be expecting him to give up the chance of a 10th without an almighty battle.
Having beaten Dimitrov nine times in their previous 10 meetings probably helped. The Bulgarian at times threatened to make things complicated for Djokovic but, despite going down on the court twice more, he found a way through to set up a clash with Australia's Alex De Minaur.
Dan Evans' generosity came back to bite him as he was overpowered by fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the third round of the Australian Open.
After the first nine games went with serve, Rublev asked a ball boy for some bananas to give him a boost of energy.
Overhearing, Evans threw one of his bananas to his opponent, who promptly broke serve in the next game to take the opening set and did not look back in a 6-4 6-2 6-3 victory.
"He actually asked for four bananas, and I quite like him, so I shared with him," said Evans. "They only brought two, so I donated (one) so he could have one."
Rublev smiled when asked about it in his post-match interview, saying: "He helped me with some energy for sure. I won an extra two games because I ate a banana."
It was a seventh meeting between Evans and Rublev, who had shared six close matches prior to this first grand slam encounter.
"It was just a nice and fun moment between us," added Rublev. "We have a great relationship between each other. We played great matches."
