Rafael Nadal put on his third straight dazzling performance in Melbourne with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tommy Haas on Saturday night at the Australian Open. He needed just two hours and four minutes to book his place in the fourth round.

Nadal dominated both Christophe Rochus and Roko Karanusic in his first two matches in Melbourne Park, but for a second it looked like Haas would present much different problems. The No. 1 player in the world dropped serve for the first time all week in the second game of the match, but that only propelled Nadal to an almost flawless display of tennis. Nadal used two breaks of his own to recover in set one and he pulled out the opener 6-4.

The Spaniard never looked back after taking the first set. An almost too good to be true second set saw Nadal fire16 winners and just one unforced error. He lost a mere four points in four service games and converted two of five break-point chances. Haas maintained an impressive level of play and produced a 9-to-7 winners to errors ratio, but he was still no match for Nadal.

More of the same took place in the third and final set, although this one was more routine Nadal sprinted to victory after just 30 minutes of third-set action. He struck 14 winners to two errors and dropped just two points in four service games.

Nadal finished with an awesome 53 winners to an unheard of eight unforced errors in his exquisite performance.

“I’m very happy with my level today,” Nadal said. “Probably, I played my one of my best matches in Australia. I can go to sleep tonight with big satisfaction about how I play. Perfect matches don’t exist but today, especially after the first three or four games, I started to play well.”

Nadal’s fourth-round opponent, Fernando Gonzalez, advanced in much different fashion. Gonzalez pulled off a thrilling 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(10), 6-2, 12-10 win over Richard Gasquet in the third round on Saturday night. What looked like an easy win for Gasquet, up two sets and only one point away from finishing it in straights, turned into the match of the tournament and surely what will remain one of the best men’s singles matches of 2009.

Gasquet dominated the first two sets and appeared to be well on his way to victory. The No. 24 seed was consistently connecting with his one-handed backhand and he fired 12 winners to just four unforced errors in the opening frame of play. Gonzalez earned his first break of the match in set two, but Gasquet took advantage of his opponent’s second serves to the tune of three service breaks. Gasquet’s third break of the set gave him a commanding two-set advantage.

“He was playing like a superhero, at a really high level,” Gonzalez said of his opponent. “I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t pass him, he was covering the net really well. He was fast.”

That’s when things started to get crazy. Gasquet and Gonzalez exchanged two breaks of serve each as the third set progessed to the dramatic tiebreaker. Although the decider lasted an incredible 22 points, Gasquet only held one match point. Gonzalez saved it when the Frenchman dumped a second-serve return into the net. On his seventh set point, Gonzalez finally capitalized by putting away a backhand volley.

With momentum completely in hand, Gonzalez was simply on fire throughout the fourth set. He blasted fourteen winners to just two unforced errors, further demoralizing Gasquet. The Chilean lost just one point in four service games and his second break of the set ensured that the match would head to it’s epic five-set destiny.

Gasquet, who has endured a fair share of mental meltdowns in times of adversity, could have gone away quietly in the fifth and few would have been surprised. Adding to his woe were shoulder and foot problems that had forced him to take two injury timeouts during the fourth set. Instead, Gasquet fought back from his third and fourth-set setbacks to play his part in the drama-filled fifth, which last 22 games.

Gasquet had plenty of chances—two break points at 4-4 and more at 7-7 and 10-10—but Gonzalez saved all of them. With Gasquet serving at 10-11 and deuce, both men came up with some awesome stuff but it was Gonzalez who finally finished off the match with two backhand winners in a row.

The final winner sent Chilean fans into a frenzy, as the Gonzo supporters sent off flairs and engulfed the stadium in smoke.

“It was Davis Cup atmosphere,” explained a disappointed Gasquet. “I played some matches in Davis Cup. It was the same, yes. It was a lot of people. It was very, very big match.”

Despite the taxing physical nature of the encounter, Gonzalez finished with an incredibly impressive 85 winners to 51 unforced errors. In a valiant effort, Gasquet blasted 80 winners to 58 errors. Both men finished with 191 points apiece. It doesn’t get much closer than that!

Gonzalez and Nadal have met on seven previous occasions. Nadal only leads the head-to-head series 4-3, but he has taken the past three encounters, including most recently in the gold medal match at the Beijing Olympics.

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