Rafael Nadal, 5th in the world, overcame the resistance of Frenchman Adrian Mannarino (69th) in the first set, before rolling out, winning 7-6 (16/14), 6-2, 6-2 and thus qualifying for the Australian Open quarter-finals.
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The 35-year-old Spaniard, titled in 2009, will face the German Alexander Zverev (3rd) or the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (14th) on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals.
Under a blazing sun, Mannarino made life difficult for Nadal in the first round, where the two players played at a very high level and which lasted 81 minutes.
At 5-5, the French got a break point saved by the Spaniard and the two men came to the tie break, which was breathtaking both in terms of the quality of the game and the intensity and suspense.
During this decisive game which lasted 28 minutes (!), Nadal saved four set points and concluded with his seventh! He had never needed so many points (30) to win a decisive game on the circuit.
But, subsequently, the Mannarino dam, perhaps affected in the abdominals, gave way. He lost the second set in 39 minutes, then, after deceiving himself by breaking at the very start of the third set to come back to 1-1, he dropped four games in a row. Serving for the win of the match at 5-2, Nadal concluded on his first match point.