Unpredictable Rios Conquers Martin
Rios put his at times inconsistent display down to the summer heat, with temperatures at Melbourne Park topping 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), and said he started to cramp up near the end.
"We were playing some long points and I felt it a little bit in the first set," Rios said. "I was pretty tired."
Rios is unseeded after struggling with injuries last year but completely dominated the first two sets against Martin, who shocked ailing World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the first round, Reuters reported.
The Chilean's touch was almost perfect as he scored points across all parts of the court with the kind of form that took him to the Australian Open final in 1998. Rios had not won another match in Melbourne until this year.
In an extraordinary third set, Rios at times looked disinterested but overcame an early break of serve as the set ebbed and flowed towards a tie-breaker.
--- Bizarre Moment ---
A Bizarre moment came in the 11th game of the set when Rios appeared to lose sight of a Martin serve and turned his back on the ball. He hung his racquet out to the side and, facing the back of the court, somehow managed to block the ball back over the net and win the point.
Martin held serve to lead 6-5 and looked likely to gain a vital service break when he was up 0-40. But Rios again fought back to hold serve and force the tie-breaker, which he won 7-3.
Rios will play 23rd seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in the fourth round after Lapentti fought back against Argentina's Gaston Gaudio in a five-set thriller.
While happy with most parts of his game, Rios said it was too early to start making comparisons with 1998, when he reached his first and only grand slam final in Melbourne -- he lost to Petr Korda -- and was briefly ranked number one two months later.
"I feel good, I start feeling better each match since the first round," Rios said.