AUSTRALIAN OPEN Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 19 January-1 February Coverage: BBC Red Button, BBC One & Two (including all Andy Murray matches), Radio 5 Live sports extra, BBC Sport website (Red Button coverage streamed on website throughout fortnight)
Nadal is targeting his first Australian Open title
Spanish number one seed Rafael Nadal defeated Germany's Tommy Haas 6-4 6-2 6-2 to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
It was another impressive victory from Nadal, who has yet to drop a set.
Nadal will now play Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, who recovered to beat France's Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-3 6-7 2-6 10-12 in a classic encounter.
However, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dispatched unseeded Israeli Dudi Sela to complete a trio of French victories on day six.
Fifth seed Tsonga's 6-4 6-2 1-6 6-1 victory came on the back of a solid display by 12th seed Gael Monfils, who beat Nicolas Almagro 6-4 6-3 7-5.
Monfils will now play fellow countryman and sixth seed Gilles Simon, who beat Croatian Mario Ancic 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-2.
Verdasco will next British fourth seed Andy Murray, who eased past Austria's Jurgen Melzer 7-6 6-0 6-3, while top seed Rafael Nadal will play Tommy Haas later.
Ninth seed James Blake knocked out Russian 18th seed Igor Andreev in four sets, the American coming through 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-1 to set up a fourth round clash with Tsonga.
The 22-year-old Nadal, seeking his first title in Melbourne, hit 53 winners and just eight unforced errors as his unseeded opponent ran out of ideas after a bright opening.
Haas claimed an early break in the first set, the first time Nadal had dropped serve in the tournament, but he hit straight back in the next.
Nadal broke again on his way to taking the set before stepping up a gear in the second, hitting winners at will before wrapping the set up with another thumping serve.
Nadal had little trouble closing out the match, with two further breaks of the Haas serve settling matters after a little over two hours on court.
"I think I probably played one of my best matches in Australia," said Nadal. "I'm very happy with the level of my performance.
"Gonzalez is coming with big confidence after two big wins against Lleyton Hewitt in the first round and against Gasquet with an unbelievable comeback.
"He's going to be a little bit more tired but he's a very strong player physically. That's very important for the confidence."
Gonzalez looked down and out after the first two sets against Gasquet, but he sprung into life at the start of the third and sealed an early break.
The Frenchman broke back straight away as the third set went to a tie-break, but Gonzalez held his nerve to make it 2-1 in sets before romping the fourth to even things up.
Gasquet (shoulder and toe) and Gonzalez (toe) were both struggling with injuries in the fifth, but it was the Chilean who held himself together to wrap things up after four hours and nine minutes.
Gonzalez said: "I think this was my longest ever match. It was very exciting out there and I'm really happy with the way I turned it around."
Tsonga survived a third-set lapse to overcome Israeli qualifier Sela, having been cruising at two sets to love when he seemed to lose concentration and allow Sela back in the match.
The 2008 runner-up quickly regrouped and overwhelmed the Israeli in the fourth set to win a highly entertaining match.
"I felt really good on the court today," he said. "I was happy to win - we played a great match."
Monfils, 22, dominated 17th seed Almagro early in their match, breaking the Spaniard once in the first set and twice in the second to open up a 2-0 lead.
The third set hinged on a disagreement between Almagro and the umpire.
Almagro argued for some minutes without success over an attempted Hawkeye challenge, and appeared distracted when he went back to serve, promptly losing the game to 15 to hand the match to Monfils.
Simon was put through his paces by Ancic in the first set and needed to keep his focus in the tie-break.
But after Simon won that, Ancic seemed to lose his edge and the Frenchman wrapped up the last two sets comfortably.
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