Rafael Nadal through to Australian Open quarterfinals

MELBOURNE, Australia – Rafael Nadal stayed in contention for his second Australian Open title six years after his first with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 fourth-round win Saturday night over Kevin Anderson.

The 2009 Australian Open winner turned around the first set – and ultimately the match – in the 11th and 12th games.

Nadal saved five break points, clinching the game with an ace and service winner to go ahead 6-5. In the next, he broke Anderson’s serve, clinching the set when the South African hit a volley awkwardly into the net.

The two-game turnaround appeared to deflate the 6-foot-8 Anderson, who won only five more games in the match.

The third-seeded Nadal, who lost last year’s final to Stan Wawrinka, will play No. 7 Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

Berdych reached the quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive year with a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over local hope Bernard Tomic.

With his new fiancee Ester Satorova watching from the stands, the seventh-seeded Berdych hit 52 winners and broke Tomic four times.

Berdych reached the quarters for the third straight year without dropping a set. He advanced to his first Australian Open semifinal last year, but lost to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka.

Nadal has an 18-3 record over Berdych and hasn’t lost to the Czech player since 2006.

Sharapova sweeps

Second-seeded Maria Sharapova is through to the quarterfinals after a 6-3, 6-0 win over China’s Peng Shuai, setting up another Grand Slam meeting with Eugenie Bouchard.

Peng, playing with her usual two-handed forehand and backhand strokes, broke Sharapova’s serve on her fifth breakpoint chance in the seventh game. But Sharapova won the next two games to take the first set in 39 minutes before dominating the second.

Bouchard advances

Eugenie Bouchard returned to the quarterfinals with a win that was far from routine.

The 20-year-old Canadian, who reached the semifinals or better at the first three Grand Slam tournaments last year, won nine of the first 10 games in her fourth-round match against Irina-Camelia Begu, but lost seven of the next nine to be pushed to a third set for the first time in the tournament.

After serving double-fault on set point to end the second, Bouchard took a short break before returning to complete a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 win against the No. 42-ranked Begu, who had taken out No. 9-seeded Angelique Kerber in the first round.