Rafael Nadal fought back from 5-2 down in the third set to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Pacific Life Open and reach the quarter-finals.

In a thrilling match, Nadal avenged his Australian Open semi-final defeat by the Frenchman with a 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 triumph.

Top seed Roger Federer, still looking for his first title of 2008, rattled out a 6-3 6-4 win over Ivan Ljubicic.

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Nadal and Tsonga split their first two sets at Indian Wells on tie-breaks but Tsonga edged ahead in the decider when Nadal hit a forehand long and was broken to go 4-2 down.

The French world number 17 served for the match at 5-3 but a string of wild errors handed the Spaniard the break back.

From then on, Tsonga's game crumbled and he was broken again at 6-5 leaving Nadal to serve out the match with a final point smash.

"A victory like this is always special and it gives me confidence," second seed Nadal said.

"I played better today than in Australia. It's always important to beat a player that beat me the last time, but it's not revenge."

Tsonga, who ended the match with 56 unforced errors, said: "It was not the same Jo. I'm not at my best, but I fought."

Nadal, the defending champion, meets American James Blake next after he eased past another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, 6-4 6-2.

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