Rafael Nadal reached the Australian Open quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive year with the 7-6 (14), 6-2, 6-2 victory over France's Adrian Mannarino at Rod Laver Arena.
The first set lasted an hour and 22 minutes with 28 of those minutes making up for the marathon tiebreak alone.
"I don't know the time when I am playing because I am just trying to be focused on the next point, but the tie-break had a little bit of everything," Nadal told Eurosport.
"In the end, I managed to survive that first set, then mentally, of course, it was tough for him after that after losing a set like this. I knew how important that set was," the Spaniard added.
The 35-year-old saved four set points in the opening set tie-break that will be remembered for a long time. The Spanish legend recovered from 7-8, 11-12, 12-13 and 13-14 before winning it 16-14.
"I was lucky at some moments; I think I played some fantastic points to come back. My serve did not work very well at the end of the tie-break and I lost a couple of chances to win the set with my serve,” the 35-year-old said.
The next two sets were relatively one-sided as Nadal stepped up his level considerably to win the match. He's now just three wins away from a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title and a second Australian Open crown.
In other fixture, Denis Shapovalov upset third seed Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. It was the Canadian's shortest match and first straight-sets victory of the tournament.
Nadal and 14th seed Shapovalov will face each other in an exciting quarterfinal showdown at the 2022 Australian Open on Tuesday (January 25).
In the women's draw, French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova blew away former two-time Melbourne champion Victoria Azarenka 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, to set up a clash with unseeded American Madison Keys.
Fifth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece was a surprise loser, going down 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 to America’s Jessica Pegula.
