Defending champion Rafael Nadal needed a hard-fought four-set win over German 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber before reaching the last 16 at the Australian Open on Friday.
The Spanish second seed was kept on the Rod Laver Arena centre court for three-and-a-half hours before completing a 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory.
Nadal will have just a day to recover from the long draining match before taking on his fourth round opponent, unseeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
"Well, the most important thing is I won, so I'm happy for that," Nadal said.
Nadal stretched his record over Kohlschreiber to 5-0, but it was his toughest encounter against the determined German, who slugged it out all the way with the world number two.
