As the tournament appraoches the second week, matches kept getting more intense. All the top seeds seems to have switched to their top gears in the third round of play on day six. Women’s big names Azarenka, Sharapova, Radwanska and Jankovic made sure they are on course to spend more time in Australia. Men’s top guns Nadal, Murray, Federer and Tsonga also followed the same. Japanese Nishikori eliminated the last American standing in the draw – Donald Young. While the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut surprised 27th seed Benoit Paire and the Frenchman Stephane Robert overpowered the big hitting Martin Klizan to enter the fourth round. Take a look at the best five matches of the day.

Maria Sharapova def. Alize Cornet 6-1 7-6(6)

First match of the day on Rod Laver Arena was expected to be a tricky match for Sharapova against the unpredictable Cornet. Though Maria prevailed in the end, it was not before the French woman fought back in the second set. After blinking in the first set, Cornet found herself trailing 3-5 on her serve in the second. As Maria’s unforced errors grew up, she managed to hold on after saving a match point and broke back to level it 5-5. But her serve couldn’t do any better as she was broken again by Sharapova to serve for the match second time. Inspired Cornet, who suffered heartbreaking losses to Bouchard and Radwanska in the Hopman Cup in Perth scorched her way back to push the match to a tiebreak. But the 2008 champion Sharapova wasn’t ready for another marathon match as she closed out the tiebreak.

Garbine Muguruza def. Caroline Wozniacki 4-6 7-5 6-3

Little known Spaniard Muguruza recorded upset of the day in this match against the former no.1 Wozniacki in three sets. After surviving a scare in the second round, Wozniacki couldn’t do much this time around. After letting the second set slip closely 7-5, Denmark native struggled to maintain her momentum. Eventually surrendered the third set 6-3.

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7 6-2 6-2

Talented Pole Radwanska continued her consistent run in grandslams with a comeback victory over the young Russian Pavlyuchenkova. Losing the first set 7-5, helped Aga to lift her level in the next two sets dropping just four games to march into the fourth round.

Grigor Dimitrov def. Milos Raonic 6-3 3-6 6-4 7-6(10)

These two future stars gave the tennis world a glimpse of what’s to come in the next five years or so. Dimitrov surprised Raonic with a powerful display. Both players relying on serve, split the first two sets before the Bulgarian edged in the crucial third set. Raonic put on a great fight in the fourth set but couldn’t close it off as Dimitrov completed the win in the intense tiebreaker. This is Dimitrov’s best performance in a grand slam.

Rafael Nadal def. Gael Monfils 6-1 6-2 6-3

World no.1 made a statement in this match outlasting the athletic Frenchman with the loss of only six games. Though he came up with some spectacular shots throughout the match, Rafa kept him running for each point. Monfils was going for more in every baseline rally to strike a winner which costed him too many unforced errors. He couldn’t convert any of his six break chances and allowed Rafa to break his serve as many times.

-Harish Narahari [Harish Narahari is a Sports Analyst for the Tennis Galaxy. He tweets here]