Chile's Fernando Gonzalez recovered from a third-set choke to defeat Lleyton Hewitt and end the home nation's singles involvement in the Australian Open.

Hewitt was steamrolled in the first two sets, then capitalised on a mental lapse by Gonzalez in the third, before the Chilean 10th seed recovered his composure to win 6-2 6-2 5-7 6-4.

Hewitt showed all his fighting qualities to save three match points before Gonzalez triumphed on his fourth.

Hewitt's third-round exit followed that of compatriot Alicia Molik, who lost to Switzerland's Patty Schnyder in three sets earlier in the night.

It continued Hewitt's record of disappointment at his home grand slam, with his 2005 effort in making the final remaining the only time the former world No.1 has made it past the fourth round in 11 assaults on the tournament.

For two sets, Hewitt was rendered virtually helpless by the white-hot play of Gonzalez.

Remarkably, the Chilean seed made only one unforced error in each of the first two sets despite reeling off regular winners from all over the court.

Gonzalez's ferociously top-spun forehand was his most lethal weapon, using it to quickly take control of points or bring them to a sudden finish.

Hewitt tried to ride out the onslaught and at least turn the match from a steamroll into a contest, which he finally managed to do in the third set.

He lifted his intensity and aggression, managed to attack Gonzalez's backhand more often and produced some strong serving to hold his serve throughout the set.

He had given up three breaks of serve in the first set and two in the second.

But he was still unable to make any impact on the Gonzalez serve until the final game of the set, when the Chilean suddenly cracked.

Serving at 5-6 down, having not been down a break point since the second game of the match, Gonzalez produced an astonishing string of errors.

On the first point, he mis-hit what should have been a simple overhead smash.

He followed that with consecutive double-faults to hand Hewitt three set points.

The feisty Australian needed only one, with Gonzalez making a simple backhand error with his first groundstroke of the next point to give Hewitt the set.

But the 10th seed steadied himself in the fourth set and gained the decisive break in the fourth game.

He was helped by a Hewitt double-fault which gave him three break points, then clinched the break with a backhand slice passing shot which curled back onto the sideline after Hewitt left it.

Hewitt still almost fought his way back again when Gonzalez was serving for the match in a dramatic game.

Having failed to capitalise on one match point in the previous game, Gonzalez started his service game with two aces, then moved to 40-15 to set up two more match points.

But the 19th seed showed incredible poise under pressure, saving one with a huge return, then a second with a stunning crosscourt forehand winner after a long rally.

He delayed another match point by successfully challenging a line call on the next point to force a replay, but Gonzalez won that to set up his fourth match point and sealed it with a forehand winner.

He will play fifth seeded American James Blake in fourth round, after Blake beat countryman Robby Ginepri 7-6 (9-7) 7-5 6-2 on Saturday night.

Gonzalez admitted he could not remember playing a better match.

"I played unbelievable for the first two sets and I was doing whatever I wanted with the ball," he said.

"Lleyton running all over the court made me miss a few shots and I had a little trouble (in the third and fourth sets).

"He was playing much better in the third and fourth sets than in the beginning of the match."

Hewitt said he had been able to do little early other than try to "weather the storm".

"If he's playing that well it's too good for those two sets, but it's a matter of trying to mix things up and make him as uncomfortable as possible," he said.

He said while disappointed to lose he had given his all.

"I put everything on the line again and I went out there and I was nearly able to turn it around again," he said.

"Not having had the best preparation and the amount of matches I would have liked coming in made life hard."

Hewitt was affected by a knee injury late last year and then had to pull out of the Adelaide tournament preceding the Open because of a calf injury.

He also parted ways with coach Roger Rasheed days before the Open, with Scott Draper taking over the coaching role throughout the tournament.

He said Draper had been a big help, but they were yet to discuss whether their professional relationship would continue.

But Hewitt was positive about what he could achieve this year.

"I want to get some more tournaments under my belt and a lot more matches and get back into the rhythm of things," he said.

"That's been the toughest thing, especially with the knee injury late last year.

"It's not easy going into grand slam matches against the best guys in the world when you're underdone."

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