Australian Open organisers have been exploring what they might do should Andy Murray reach the final – and then have to pull out.

Murray, who was due to play Australia’s Bernard Tomic in round four here at around 8am UK time today, has promised that if his wife Kim goes into labour at any stage, even if it is after the semi-final, he would get on the next available flight home.

It is a scenario that everyone understands on a human level but one which would cause the tournament a real headache if they are unable to deliver a final.

In an era when television rights are so crucial to tournament revenues, having no legitimate final will be a costly blow.

It is not known if the Australian Open is insured in the case of such an event but it is understood they have been discussing various options just in case.

In that instance, the finalist would, of course, be the champion but considering the cost of refunding finals tickets, organisers would rather at least put something on for the fans.

It seems unlikely that a losing semi-finalist would hang around long enough to be available, or even be interested in going back on court a couple of days later for a glorified exhibition.

Perhaps the most likely scenario would be one last hurrah for Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, who is commentating with Channel 7, having signed off his career at this year’s event.

That would at least give the crowd something to cheer, even if it would be a largely unsatisfactory way to end the first grand slam event of the year.

At one stage on Saturday night it looked like Murray might be making an even earlier departure after his father in law, Nigel Sears, the coach of Ana Ivanovic, collapsed in the stands and was taken to hospital.

Sears, who required CPR and oxygen from paramedics before being taken to a nearby hospital, where he underwent a number of tests and where he was visited by Murray, who rushed there immediately after finishing his third-round match.

In a statement released through the tournament, Sears said he was expecting to be released yesterday, thanked all those who had helped him and revealed that he had been given the all-clear to fly home.

“I feel truly grateful to everyone involved for the manner in which this has been handled,” he said of the treatment he received. “While I appreciate the level of media interest in this story I would prefer not to comment any further, thanks."

There was plenty of drama on the court yesterday when the world No 1 Novak Djokovic was given a real scare by Frenchman Gilles Simon.

The all-conquering Serb, five times the champion here, has been nigh unbeatable in the past year but Simon, a man who has only beaten him once, almost pulled off a shock victory.

Djokovic hit 100 double faults – that’s not a typo – but somehow still had enough about him to win 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

It was a win that put him through to a 27th straight grand slam quarter-final, level with Jimmy Connors in the all-time list, second only to Roger Federer with 36.

But while Simon was inspired, stretching Djokovic to the limit it some epic rallies, the world No 1 could barely believe how badly, relatively, he had played.“In terms of the performance itself, I haven't done well at all,” he said. “I honestly didn't expect to make this many unforced errors. In terms of the level that I've played, it's the match to forget for me.

“But won, so it's pretty good. When you're playing that bad and still manage to win -- hopefully it's going to be better next one.”

It will not have gone unnoticed by the remaining men in the draw that Djokovic was rattled by Simon, irritated at his mistakes and forced into hitting numerous drop shots, the vast majority of which failed, as one fan pointed out.

“It would be interesting to see how many drop shot points I won,” he said. “It's probably one out of 40, very low percentage. The person who shouted was absolutely right.

“But sometimes it works. It's my game. I don't think it can get much worse than this. A hundred unforced errors for a match is really tremendous for me, my style of the game. I'm aggressive but still like to construct the point. I'm going to make sure that I decrease that number at least more than half and hope for the best.”

Djokovic’s next opponent will be Kei Nishikori, the Japanese who beat former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 and who upset Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open two years ago.

Roger Federer only got onto court at around 10.45pm local time but made up for lost time as he cruised past Belgium’s David Goffin 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in 89 minutes.

“Very, very happy,” Federer said. “I’m happy I came out and played as well as I did. He’s given me a tough time in practice so it was a nice surprise tonight.”The third-seeded Swiss, looking for his first grand slam title since winning Wimbledon in 2012, now plays the Czech, Tomas Berdych, who edged out Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

“We have played some big matches against each other. I think this court really plays well for him so I’ve really got my hands full.”