MELBOURNE, Jan. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Novak Djokovic competes against Gilles Simon of France during the 4th round match of men's singles at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2016. Novak Djokovic won the match 3-2. (Xinhua/Bi Mingming)

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Five-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic managed to shake off a dogged five-set challenge from 14th seed Gilles Simon on Sunday, despite the world No. 1 playing one of his worst matches in recent memory.

Djokovic hit an unprecedented 100 unforced errors throughout the match - a self-proclaimed record number of mistakes - which spanned a grueling four hours and 32 minutes.

Simon nagged the No. 1 seed the entire time, returning balls and waiting for the champion to make a mistake, with frustrations boiling over in a tense fourth set before the class of the champ came to the fore in the fifth.

In the shortest set of the match, the Serb broke early to eventually win: 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

In his post-match press conference, Djokovic said he was pleased to win the match despite producing one of his worst on-court performances in recent years.

"Unfortunately you have days like this," Djokovic said, "It's actually good to win when you play that bad."

"In terms of the level I've played it's a match to forget for me."

When asked if he had ever hit 100 unforced errors in a match before, the five-time Australian Open winner said he had "never been close".

"But there's a first time for everything," he added

Djokovic admitted he will need to step up his game on Tuesday, when he faces the seventh seed Kei Nishikori, who dismantled world No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets earlier on Sunday.

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Novak Djokovic competes against Gilles Simon of France during the 4th round match of men's singles at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2016. Novak Djokovic won the match 3-2. (Xinhua/Bi Mingming)

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Novak Djokovic competes against Gilles Simon of France during the 4th round match of men's singles at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2016. Novak Djokovic won the match 3-2. (Xinhua/Bi Mingming)

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Novak Djokovic competes against Gilles Simon of France during the 4th round match of men's singles at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2016. Novak Djokovic won the match 3-2. (Xinhua/Bi Mingming)

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Gilles Simon of France competes against Serbia's Novak Djokovic during the 4th round match of men's singles at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2016. Gilles Simon lost the match 2-3. (Xinhua/Bi Mingming)

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Novak Djokovic competes against Gilles Simon of France during the 4th round match of men's singles at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 24, 2016. Novak Djokovic won the match 3-2. (Xinhua/Bi Mingming)