(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-20 10:25

INDIAN WELLS, California - Defending champion Rafael Nadal came from a set down and 3-5 behind in the third to scrape past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 7-6 7-5 in the Pacific Life Open fourth round on Wednesday.

Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates after breaking the serve of France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga late in the third set of his victory at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California March 19, 2008. [Agencies]

In a repeat of this year's Australian Open semi-final in which Tsonga upset the Spaniard, Nadal gained revenge by winning a fluctuating encounter in just over three hours.

The second seed claimed the last four games as Tsonga's high-risk strategy ultimately backfired and will next meet either Frenchman Richard Gasquet or American James Blake who were playing later on Wednesday.

On a sun-drenched afternoon at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Nadal and Tsonga traded service breaks in the first two games of the match on the showpiece Stadium Court and then held serve to take the opening set into a tiebreak.

Although the long-haired Spaniard established a 3-1 lead, Tsonga dominated the rest of the tiebreak.

A searing forehand winner down the line put the 22-year-old Frenchman 4-3 up, an ace took him to 6-3 and he clinched the set 7-4 when left-hander Nadal hit a forehand long.

The second set also began with successive breaks of serve before the two baseline sluggers went into another tiebreak which the Spaniard won 7-3 after surging 5-0 clear.

Both players held serve in the third set until the sixth game when Nadal, who had controlled a protracted rally, over-hit a forehand to be broken and trail 2-4.

FOREHAND WIDE

Tsonga appeared to be in control when leading 5-3 and serving for the match but he was broken by Nadal in an erratic game that ended when he pushed an explosive forehand wide.

The 17th-seeded Frenchman was again broken in the 11th, double-faulting before hitting another forehand long for the Spaniard to go 6-5 up.

Urged on by the crowd, Nadal served out to seal victory, clinching the final point with an overhead smash.

The aggressive Tsonga, nicknamed Ali for his resemblance to the former world heavyweight boxing champion, ended the match with an overall tally of 47 winners and 56 unforced errors.

Earlier, unseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka beat South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik 6-1 5-7 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with Serb Novak Djokovic or Argentina's Guillermo Canas.

Third-seeded Djokovic was scheduled to play Canas later on Wednesday and Swiss world number one Roger Federer was due to face Croat Ivan Ljubicic in an evening match.