The scheduling of Australian Open matches has sparked a rethink after the men's quarterfinal between Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev did not finish until 1:21am AEDT.

Sinner defeated Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 after they began their match on Rod Laver Arena much later than expected at 10:42pm AEDT on Tuesday due to the afternoon session on day 10 extending into the evening.

Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejčíková took to the court for the first match of the evening session two hours late at 9pm AEDT, with the delay caused by the finish times of the earlier quarterfinals on Rod Laver Arena.

The schedule of play for day 11 shows main draw matches on Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena starting at midday AEDT, an hour earlier than Tuesday.

Tournament organisers spoke with Sinner and Rublev about the prospect of moving their match to another court.

"It was half-an-hour where we didn't know exactly where we were going to play, " Sinner said.

Sinner said it did not matter to him what court he and Rublev played on as he was "just focused about the match".

Discussions were also held with Sabalenka and Krejčíková about whether they wanted to move their match away from Rod Laver Arena while Novak Djokovic was playing Taylor Fritz in the opening men's quarterfinal that lasted almost four hours.

"We just decided to see how the Novak and Fritz match will go," said Sabalenka after her 6-2, 6-3 win over Krejčíková.

"If it's going be too long, then we kind of agreed for the possibility to be moved.

"But Novak won third and fourth sets, so we just went on court as normal."

The match between Djokovic and Fritz did not begin until after 4:30pm AEDT as the first women's quarterfinal – involving Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk – went to three sets.

Gauff triumphed after more than three hours on court, with her match starting on schedule at 1pm AEDT to accommodate a men's legends' doubles fixture.

The Australian Open began a day earlier than in previous years in the hope this would relieve pressure on match scheduling and avoid players taking to the court late at night.

But this year's tournament has seen several early-morning finishes, highlighted by Daniil Medvedev's second-round win over Emil Ruusuvuori concluding at 3:39am AEDT last Friday.

Fritz concerned about player welfare

Speaking to the media prior to the Sinner-Rublev match, Fritz said he felt for both players having to start their match late at night.

"I think it's rough," said Fritz, who lost 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to Djokovic.

"I was talking about that with a group of guys and Medvedev before, because he finished that one match so late. It just screws up your whole [body] clock.

"I pray for those guys."

Fritz said late finishes cause great disruption to a player's sleep schedule.

"In one case I get it, as matches go long some days," he said.

"Like, today in particular, my match was long, the match before us was really long.

"But there's got to be something they can do where people aren't playing until 2:00, 3:00am.