Melbourne: Rafa Nadal held off a fierce challenge from one of the hottest prospects in the game when he outlasted German teenager Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open on Saturday.
The Spaniard, champion here in 2009, needed to be at his resilient best to come out on top after more than four hours of top quality shot-making and thrilling rallies which earned both players a huge ovation from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
The 19-year-old Zverev showed in spades why many consider him a future grand slam champion but was just unable to stay with the uber-fit 30-year-old in a gripping deciding set.
"Everybody knows how good Alexander is, he's the future of our sport and the present too," said Nadal, who reached the fourth round for the 10th time in 12 appearances at Melbourne Park.
"Today was a great battle, I am very happy to be through. It was an important result for me as I've lost my last couple of matches in the fifth."
Returning to Melbourne Park as ninth seed after curtailing his 2016 season because of injury, Nadal will next face Gael Monfils of France as he bids for a 15th grand slam title.
While Zverev's performance reinforced his position in the vanguard of generation next, Nadal confirmed that he is healthy enough to take advantage of the early exit of 2016 champion Novak Djokovic from his half of the draw.
It was the younger man, however, who got off to the quicker start, grabbing a break in the opening game with a sumptuous backhand dropshot and moving the former world number one around the court.
Zverev had a 20 kph advantage over Nadal on first serve but the German was unable to dominate in the second set the way he did in the first and a single break evened up the contest.
The third set developed into a ding-dong battle with neither player able to snare a single break point and it was Zverev who edged the tiebreak with an angled winner, again off his backhand.
Nadal grabbed the only break of the fourth set on Zverev's first service game and tied the contest up with his eighth ace, sending it into a decider.
Another early break for Nadal appeared to set him on the path to victory but Zverev was having none of it and broke back, only fading when he started cramping after a series of marathon rallies to allow the Spaniard to claim the victory.
"I'm disappointed but I know that this was a great match, That was a great fight. There's a lot of positives in this match," Zverev said.
"I think he's probably one of the fittest tennis players in the history of the game. Obviously I wanted to win. I could have won. It's disappointing."
Raonic's brief glitch
Milos Raonic's machine-like advance through the Australian Open hit a brief glitch against Gilles Simon but the Canadian re-booted to delete the dogged Frenchman 6-2, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 and reach the fourth round on Saturday.
The third seed, who revealed he has been suffering from a "bad fever", lost his first set of the tournament against the indefatigable Simon, whose hard running and sublime passing shots threatened to turn the game on its head.
The big-serving Canadian drowned out the Gallic cheers by capturing the decisive break in the sixth game of the fourth set and sealed the match with a big kicking serve to set up a clash with Spanish 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
"I've had a rough last 48 hours, everything was aching, just sort of those kind of symptoms," said Raonic.
"I'm managing it. I'm sure I'll probably get something after today's match."
Raonic became the first Canadian man to reach the semi-finals here last year and backed it up with his first grand slam final at Wimbledon in his best season to date.
His chances of blazing a trail to a maiden final in Melbourne were handed a huge boost when Uzbek journeyman Denis Istomin knocked out six-times champion Novak Djokovic in the second round. That upset has left Raonic as the highest seed left in the lower half of the draw.
Raonic has long been tagged a grand slam contender and he looked the part early on against Simon, mowing through the first set in 28 minutes and showing impressive composure to fend off the 25th seed in a tense tiebreak in the second.
The 26-year-old stumbled in the third as he gave up two breaks of serve but refused to put it down to two days battling illness catching up with him.
"He started playing a bit more aggressive, I became a little bit too passive," Raonic said.
"It was more just a dip in sort of dictating. It wasn't a physical dip of any kind."
He pushed a shot wide to give up a break-point at 4-3 and Simon grabbed the chance with a delightful drop-volley played off his feet.
Simon sealed the set with a thumping first serve that triggered raucous cheers from the French fans in Hisense Arena and sent Raonic back to his chair muttering.
The Canadian regrouped, however, and raced to 3-1 before stumbling again to lose serve a third time.
But he grabbed back the break and grimly held to close out a galvanising win before returning to his sick bed.
"The most important thing for me right now is just to get myself at full capacity or as close to it as possible," Raonic added.
Pliskova survives
Karolina Pliskova showed nerves of steel as she battled back from 5-2 down in the deciding set to beat teenager Jelena Ostapenko 4-6 6-0 10-8 and reach the fourth round for the first time on Saturday.
The fifth seed, a finalist at the U.S. Open last year, won eight of the last 11 games in a topsy-turvy contest on Margaret Court Arena to secure a last-16 meeting with the final Australian in the draw, Daria Gavrilova.
"I was a little bit lucky today, I think she was probably the best one but I am very happy to be in the fourth round for the first time," said the 24-year-old Czech.
"When she was 5-2 she was missing a little bit more, I was just staying in the game, even if I broke my racket. I was just trying to get every ball in as she was playing so fast and aggressive."
Ostapenko's first attempt to serve for the match ended with a double fault and a grin from the Latvian but the second ended in tears after she slapped a straightforward backhand into the net.
The fired up world number 38, who mixed 41 winners with 43 unforced errors over the contest, saved one match point at 5-6 in the decider but looked to have run out of steam as the match drew to its conclusion.
Pliskova had needed just an hour to get through each of her first two matches at Melbourne Park but needed a shade over two hours to see off the 19-year-old, who conceded victory when she clattered a backhand into the net post.
Konta triumphs
Britain's Johanna Konta firmed up as one of the title favourites when she powered into the fourth round on Saturday, comfortably seeing off former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-1 on Margaret Court Arena.
The ninth seed, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament, broke the Dane midway through the first set with a smoking drop shot and never looked back, keeping the pressure up throughout the 75-minute contest.
The 25-year-old will next face Ekaterina Makarova at Melbourne Park as she continues her quest to give Britain its first women's grand slam singles champion in four decades.
"Someone like Caroline, she's not going to give it to you. You really do have to earn it and win it till the very last point," an upbeat Konta told reporters.
"I'm just very happy I was able to keep that pressure on. I'm very pleased with how I've just been able to problem-solve in the last matches that I've played, really play myself into matches where I felt I started slowly."
Konta ratcheted up her powerful first serve, returned deep to keep 17th seed Wozniacki on the back foot and blasted 31 winners to her Danish opponent's six.
The Sydney-born righthander said she was banking grand slam experience that she hoped would hold her in good stead as she went deeper into the tournament.
"I do try very hard to always make sure I take the good and the things I can improve on from every match that I play and reinvest it into the next match," she said.
"Whenever the similar situation arises, make sure that's in my bank and I can use my experience. Hopefully I'm getting a little wiser."
Konta said was looking forward to another 'battle' against 30th seed Makarova, who she beat in the fourth round last year on her way to the semifinals in Melbourne.
After compatriots Andy Murray and Dan Evans reached the fourth round on Friday, Konta's progress gave Britain an unprecedented contingent in the second week at Melbourne Park.
Britain has never fielded a trio of any male or female combination in the fourth round of the Australian Open since the grand slam moved from Kooyong in 1988.
While Konta was unwilling to talk of the potential prospect of playing six-times champion Serena Williams in the quarter-finals, Wozniacki was not so coy.
"I think Johanna is playing on a very high level right now," she told reporters. "If she keeps playing like this, then she has good chance against Serena."
Easy for Serena
Serena Williams gave compatriot Nicole Gibbs a lesson in grand slam tennis with a 6-1, 6-3 thrashing to charge into the fourth round.
Having passed her earlier tests against more accomplished players, second seed Williams had far too many weapons for the 92nd-ranked Gibbs, who appeared overawed by the occasion at a sun-drenched Rod Laver Arena.
Williams suffered a brief lapse when serving for the match at 5-2 and was broken for the first time, but she promptly broke back to close out the one-sided contest in just over an hour.
The 35-year-old American, bidding for a record 23rd grand slam title in the professional era and a seventh at Melbourne Park, heads into the second week, and a clash against 16th seed Barbora Strycova, in fine touch.
"I feel like I have been able to do pretty good," Williams told reporters, having had only two tour matches to warm up for the tournament after calling off her season after the U.S. Open last September to deal with a knee injury.
"I have been doing the things I have been doing in practice, and hopefully I can build up on this.
"That's all I want to do."
Ominously for Czech Strycova and other Tour rivals, Williams could do a whole lot more.
She landed only half her first serves against Gibbs and racked up 26 unforced errors.
It hardly mattered, as Gibbs's feisty opening salvo early in the first set was quickly subdued by Williams's power hitting.
A former national collegiate champion, the outspoken Gibbs has developed a profile with her commentary on various social issues such as gun control and race, but the 23-year-old had enough problems of her own to deal with against Williams.
She double-faulted meekly to drop serve for a second time and trail 5-1 in the first set, and Williams closed it out in 26 minutes.
Statistically, Gibbs was up against it, with Williams not losing to a player ranked outside the top 50 since a shock loss to Virginie Razzano at Roland Garros in 2012.
Adding to that, Williams has lost only twice in 29 matches against fellow Americans since an injury-hampered quarter-final defeat by Sloane Stephens at Melbourne Park in 2013.
Ever generous in praising opponents after crushing them, Williams said Gibbs did "a great job" and that she had not intimidated.
"The same thing with me when I was growing up," said the former world number one.
"I was in awe and had so much respect for these (top) players. But when I stepped out there, I wanted to see what I can do, all my years of work and how it would stand up against the greatest."
Seed killer
Ekaterina Makarova continued to show little regard for seeds and sent another one heading for the exits at Melbourne Park on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3 win over sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the third round.
The 28-year-old, whose list of high-seeded victims at previous Australian Opens includes Ana Ivanovic (19th), Serena Williams (12th), Angelique Kerber (5th) and Simona Halep (3rd), will now face either Johanna Konta or Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.
Makarova, who despite her giant-killing exploits has only reached one semifinal at Melbourne Park (2015), raced through the first set courtesy of three breaks and then into a 4-0 lead in the second.
Cibulkova, however, fought back to win the next five games to take a 5-4 lead then went on to force a deciding set.
Makarova took a medical time out for treatment on her right elbow while leading 3-2 in the third but it did not see the momentum swing back Cibulkova. The Russian then broke to take a 5-3 lead and served out in the next game.