Fourth round ATP action at the 2008 Pacific Life Open lived up to its blockbuster billing, Wednesday in Indian Wells, highlighted by an epic battle between defending champion Rafael Nadal and fast-rising Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The two previous meetings between the fiery crowd-pleasers had been one-sided decisions – Nadal won in straight sets at last year’s US Open and Tsonga steamrolled the World No. 2 in the Aussie Open semifinals – but Wednesday’s match proved a much more competitive display. The two players exchanged breaks of serve to begin the first two sets, and each pulled through in a tie-break to send the match to a third set decider.

Tsonga appeared on the brink of eliminating Nadal once again, breaking the Spaniard to go up 4-2, but then faltered as he served for the win at 5-3. His forehand return missed wide on Nadal’s break point chance to put the match back on serve, and then Tsonga dropped serve again two games later; he double faulted at deuce and then committed another forehand error. Nadal served out to love, prevailing 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-5 in just over three hours.

“I always try to fight every point. I was a little bit lucky because losing 5-2 in the third – especially against big server like Tsonga – the normal thing is to lose 6-3,” said Nadal. “I had a tough first point in 5-3; finally I won this point, and that gave me confidence.

“It was so important for me to have this victory... A victory like this is always special and gives me confidence. I will be better.”

Tsonga, who was making his debut in Indian Wells, also expressed the high value placed on his rematch with Nadal: “It was a very important match for me because I would like to show everybody my run in Australian Open was not lucky. I want to prove to everybody I can play at this level, so I'm disappointed about this.”

Nadal will need to defeat American James Blake for the first time to keep on track for the title defense. Blake holds a 3-0 lifetime record against the 21-year-old, including a win in the 2006 Indian Wells semifinals. World No. 9 Blake convincingly defeated No. 8 Richard Gasquet of France, 6-4, 6-2 to secure his place in the quarterfinals.

“He's probably still one of the best players of all time and he's never been No. 1 in the world,” said Blake about his quarterfinal opponent. “That's incredible, and it shows incredible heart that he's kept the No. 2 ranking for so long. It shows incredible kind of mental fortitude to keep pushing, keep getting better, keep striving for that No. 1 ranking... He's proven he's, by far, the greatest No. 2 of all time.”

But the 28-year-old looked forward to his match with optimism: “I've had a lot of success against lefties in general. I think I return their serves pretty well and get on them pretty quickly. Hopefully it will continue tomorrow.”

Last year’s finalist, World No. 3 Novak Djokovic, had no problems getting past Argentine Guillermo Canas, who last year stunned Roger Federer in the second round. Djokovic converted on three of his eight break point chances and denied Canas his five opportunities to break, as he advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 win.

Djokovic next faces unseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who moved through to his first career ATP Masters Series quarterfinal by holding off Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.