History-making Nishikori, Zheng roll on

MELBOURNE: Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man to reach the Australian Open round of 16 in the open era on Saturday as Zheng Jie joined Chinese number one Li Na in the fourth round.

Nishikori, the 24th seed, matched his best performance at a grand slam by recovering from a set down to beat France's Julien Benneteau 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

Resurgent Zheng, who remains unbeaten in 2012, shocked ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-3 in just under an hour-and-a-half to progress as China's women continued to impress in Melbourne.

Nishikori, who also reached the fourth round of the US Open in 2008, was broken twice in the first set as Benneteau drew first blood, but he held his nerve to win two consecutive tiebreaks before also taking the fourth set.

The Japanese, 22, had a breakthrough year in 2011, reaching two finals and and beating world number one Novak Djokovic as he became the highest-ranked Japanese man in history. He is currently the world number 26.

Meanwhile Zheng, who won her fourth WTA title in Auckland this month, gave Bartoli the runaround, racing into a 4-0 lead and surviving a wobble to seal the first set with an overhead smash.

Bartoli battled hard at the start of the second set but Zheng stayed strong, securing a crucial break in the sixth game. In total, Zheng hit 28 winners against just seven for Bartoli.

Zheng, 28, who reached the semi-finals of the 2010 Australian Open but missed last year's tournament with a wrist injury, will next play Italy's Sara Errani on Monday, which is Chinese New Year's Day.

China's Peng Shuai, Japanese women Kimiko Date-Krumm and Ayumi Morita, Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun and Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn have already fallen by the wayside. (AFP)