HIGHLIGHTS-Tennis-Australian Open day six

MELBOURNE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Highlights of day six of the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park on Saturday. Times local (GMT +11):

2315 NADAL MARCHES ON

Second seed Rafa Nadal kept his hopes of a record 21st Grand Slam alive with a 7-5 6-2 7-5 victory over Briton Cameron Norrie.

Nadal had been suffering from a back injury prior to the tournament but has not yet dropped a set and will face Fabio Fognini in the fourth round.

2308 FOGNINI DASHES DE MINAUR HOPES

Italian 16th seed Fabio Fognini staved off a late comeback from Alex De Minaur, seeded 21, to register a 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory.

De Minaur, the last remaining Australian in the men's singles draw, saved two match points before bowing out in just over two hours.

2045 BARTY OUSTS ALEXANDROVA

World number one Ash Barty secured a 6-2 6-4 victory over Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova despite playing with a heavily strapped thigh.

Barty will play unseeded American Shelby Rogers who advanced to the fourth round for the first time in her career after beating Anett Kontaveit 6-4 6-3.

READ MORE:

Nadal eases past Norrie into last 16

Barty bounces into fourth round on empty court

Medvedev wins five-setter to join Russian charge

Players switch back to COVID-mode as fans exit Australian Open

Medvedev skips dessert in hope of sweeter success in Melbourne

Play on: Australian Open continues under lockdown

Tsitsipas strolls into fourth round with easy win over Ymer

Pliskova points to ring rust as Czech exits in third round

No longer the young American, Pegula keen to make up for lost time

Defiant Djokovic survives after Australian Open locks down

Thiem survives fired-up Kyrgios in five-set thriller

Serena locks down to beat Potapova and reach fourth round

Fritz critical of fans being ordered to leave Australian Open

Hsieh happy to avoid a bagel on way to fourth round

Quotes from day six

1815 MERTENS MARCHES PAST BENCIC

Belgium's Elise Mertens, who reached the semi-finals at Melbourne Park three years ago, fired 22 winners in a 6-2 6-1 win over Switzerland's Belinda Bencic.

1800 RUBLEV RACES INTO FOURTH ROUND

Russia's seventh seed Andrey Rublev extended his winning streak to seven matches in 2021 with a 7-5 6-2 6-3 win over Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez.

1700 TSITSIPAS ADVANCES WITH EASY WIN

Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed just over 1-1/2 hours to see off Sweden's Mikael Ymer 6-4 6-1 6-1.

1635 MEDVEDEV SURVIVES KRAJINOVIC SCARE

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev came through in five sets for the first time in his career, defeating Serbia's Filip Krajinovic 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-0 in just over three hours at Rod Laver Arena.

1535 VEKIC BATTLES PAST KANEPI

Croatia's 28th seed Donna Vekic saved a match point as she rallied from a set down to beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi 5-7 7-6(2) 6-4.

1520 BRADY ROLLS INTO LAST 16

American Jennifer Brady, seeded 22nd, held off a spirited challenge from Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan in the second set before claiming a 6-1 6-3 victory.

1330 PEGULA POWERS INTO FOURTH ROUND

American Jessica Pegula reached the fourth round in a Grand Slam for the first time in her career with a 6-2 6-1 victory over France's Kristina Mladenovic.

1315 PLISKOVA KNOCKED OUT

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova's frustration boiled over as she smashed two rackets during a 7-5 7-5 defeat by fellow Czech Karolina Muchova.

Pliskova was also docked a point for racket abuse in the tunnel between the two sets.

1232 FIFTH SEED SVITOLINA INTO FOURTH ROUND

Fifth seed Elina Svitolina survived an early wobble to cruise into the fourth round with a 6-4 6-0 victory over Kazakh Yulia Putintseva on Margaret Court Arena.

1112 PLAY UNDERWAY AT EMPTY STADIUMS

Play got underway as scheduled under cloudy skies on six courts on the first Saturday of the championships, normally one of the best attended of the fortnight.

No fans will be allowed for the next five days after the Victoria government ordered a snap lockdown to try and contain an outbreak of the COVID-19 variant associated with Britain.

The state of Victoria announced one new locally-transmitted case of COVID-19 on Saturday. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Hardik Vyas, Rohith Nair and Arvind Sriram; Editing by Michael Perry)