Vengeant Nishikori hammers Tsonga

By Nick Mulvenney MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Japan's Kei Nishikori was at his aggressive best as he disarmed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 6-2 6-4 to sweep into the last eight of the Australian Open for the third time on Sunday. Nishikori was Asia's first male Melbourne Park quarter-finalist in 2012 but has never made it into the last four after defeats by Andy Murray four years ago and Stan Wawrinka last year. Back-to-back double faults from Tsonga gave Nishikori a break for 2-1 in the opening set and the seventh seed was soon smashing another forehand winner past the Frenchman to take a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes. An unforced error, one of 36 for Tsonga in the match, gave him a break at similar stage in the second set and when the ninth seed gave up his first service game of the third, the writing was on the wall for the 2008 finalist. Nishikori needed three match points to serve out for victory but wrapped up the contest after 122 minutes when Tsonga slashed another forehand wide. "I'm surprised that I broke him early every set. I was returning well today, so that makes I think tough for him to have good serve all the time," said the 26-year-old. "I played very patient. When I had an opportunity I tried to come in sometimes. Using my forehands more and (being) very aggressive at certain moment. "Yeah, I felt like everything was working well today." The victory avenged Nishikori's defeat to Tsonga in a five-set thriller at the French Open last year. "I think this time I did a few wrong choices at the start, and he just played really well," said Tsonga, who needed some treatment on his back during the contest. "Then I was not able to come back in the match. I think he was just better than me on the three sets." Nishikori is likely to meet reigning champion Novak Djokovic in the last eight and vengeance will be on his mind once again after world number one thrashed him 6-1 6-1 indooors at the ATP World Tour finals in November. The world number seven has beaten Djokovic twice in their previous seven meetings, however, most notably to reach the final at the 2014 U.S. Open. "We played in London and he kind of destroyed me," the Japanese said. "It wasn't an easy match for me. It's different conditions, but I hope I can make some changes and try to play better. "Yeah. I'm ready to beat him again." (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Patrick Johnston)