Nadal next for thrilled Gonzalez

Fernando Gonzalez came from two sets down to win an epic four-hour encounter against Richard Gasquet at the Australian Open today.

On a day when Frenchmen dominated the draw, Gasquet was the only one of four not to make it into the fourth round after Gonzalez triumphed 3-6 3-6 7-6 (12/10) 6-2 12-10 amid a carnival atmosphere at Margaret Court Arena.

The last set alone took almost 90 minutes to complete and only the tiniest of margins separated the two at the end with 13th-seeded Gonzalez hitting 85 winners to the Frenchman's 80 and committing 51 unforced errors to Gasquet's 58.

Gasquet had match point in the third set but could not convert, sparking a revival by Gonzalez whose win earns him a fourth-round tie with world number one Rafael Nadal.

"It's the most exciting match, maybe (I've played in) and I'm really happy I was able to turn the match around," said Gonzalez.

"In the first set, I tried to move him, tried to play long points and tried to do something different. If I went for my shots, he was coming at me with another better one. So it was very tough in the beginning.

"When we went to the fifth set, I was feeling really good I felt like the favourite for the match. But you never know.

"I had a couple of match points maybe in the fourth game, and I couldn't break him. After that anything can happen. You have to keep fighting and wait for your chances."