Rainer Schuettler sprang a minor surprise on Monday when he knocked out James Blake, the 23rd seed, in the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Schuettler, seeded 31st, won 6-3 6-4 1-6 6-3 in one hour 55 minutes and will play either 10th seed David Nalbandian or sixth seed Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.

Schuettler made the fourth round at the 2001 Australian Open before losing to Carlos Moya and he was delighted to have gone one step further this year.

"The older you get, the more you just enjoy the game and the more you appreciate what you have around you," said the 26-year-old.

I had a lot of respect for his game Defeated American James Blake

"I mean, it's really a great life. It's a perfect life. Right now, I just enjoy staying on the court and playing the tennis."

The German, serving at 62%, was formidable on his service returns and broke Blake six times.

The 23-year-old American congratulated his opponent but admitted that defeat hurt.

"He's a great player," said Blake. "I had seen him play a little bit and I had a lot of respect for his game.

"He fights hard and it's definitely tough to play someone, in a three-out-of-five-set match, who's just going to run down every ball. It's very frustrating.

"This one hurt quite a bit, but the more it hurts I guess that means the better I'm doing.

"When you are playing for something that's really important, like a spot in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, losing hurts quite a bit."