Nadal to face Simon in last eight

Rafael Nadal will play Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after the pair reached the last eight in vastly different circumstances.

Nadal eased past 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-2 6-4, while Simon progressed courtesy of the retirement of his friend Gael Monfils with a wrist injury.

Although Nadal did not look as sharp as he did when eliminating Tommy Haas in the third round, he did enough to get past Gonzalez, who was undoubtedly affected by his epic match against Richard Gasquet in the previous round.

The world number one raced into a 3-0 lead in the opening set and when Gonzalez broke back to 3-2, Nadal stepped up a gear to eventually run away with the set.

Wild errors from the 13th seed saw Nadal break serve immediately in the second set and the top seed did so again in the fifth on his way to a two-set lead.

Gonzalez responded well, breaking early to take a 3-0 lead in the third. But as his error count rose and his frustration increased, Nadal rattled off five consecutive games.

Simon, 24, was 6-4 2-6 6-1 up against Monfils when the 12th seed was forced to quit.

Meanwhile, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and James Blake had to contend with a fireworks display celebrating Australia Day midway through their night match on Rod Laver Arena.

Frenchman Tsonga eventually came through in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7/3), and will now play Fernando Verdasco, who overcame fourth seed Andy Murray in a nail-biting five-setter.