Third seed Novak Djokovic ended the hopes of home favourite Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open, beating the former world number one 7-5 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.
The Serbian recovered from a nervy start to clinch victory in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a last-eight clash with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.
'I was very, very, very nervous,' Djokovic said in a courtside interview.
'In the first set I was lucky, but then afterwards I relaxed and tried to be aggressive and take control of the match which I did.
'Of course, Lleyton was very tired from the (Marcos) Baghdatis match a couple of nights ago, so I took my opportunities.'
The Australian 19th seed's previous match had ended at 4.33am on Sunday morning but he showed no signs of fatigue as he broke to lead 4-2 in the first set, only for Djokovic to hit back and win it.
Hewitt, in his 12th Australian Open, gave himself hope when he broke early in the second set but Djokovic struck back to win it and he stormed into a 5-2 lead in the third.
The Serb squandered two match points as he was broken when serving for the match, but he broke Hewitt in the next game to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
It was the first time in nine Australian Opens that Hewitt had lost a match in straight sets, while Djokovic has yet to drop a set in this year's tournament.
Meanwhile, Ferrer ground down fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-1 to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time.
Ferrer proved the more consistent player in a gruelling tussle littered with long baseline rallies.
Ferrer, a semi-finalist at last year's US Open, twice needed treatment on a leg injury against former French Open champion Ferrero but clinched victory on his first match point to end a contest lasting just over three hours.
