MELBOURNE: Spain's ninth seed David Ferrer grafted out a four-sets win over Frenchman Gilles Simon to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday.

Ferrer, a two-time semi-finalist, downed the 18th seeded Simon 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4) in 3hr 37min and will play Japan's Kei Nishikori in the round of 16.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2015