MELBOURNE, Australia -- Sam Querrey is the only American man to beat a No. 1-ranked player at a Grand Slam in 15 years.
Last year at Wimbledon, the 29-year-old Californian ended Novak Djokovic's Open-era record of 30 consecutive major match wins. That helped create an easier path for eventual champion Andy Murray.
On Friday, Querrey wasn't as successful against Murray, who wrested the No.1 ranking from Djokovic at the end of last year.
Murray was a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 winner and advanced to the fourth round where he'll play Mischa Zverev of Germany, a four-set winner over Malek Jaziri. If results go with the seedings, Murray could have a quarterfinal against Kei Nishikori. The fifth-seeded Nishikori beat Lukas Lacko 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
"Hopefully, I can keep it going," said Murray, who was recently knighted.
In terms of comfort and safety, this was the cleanest match Murray has played at the Australian Open. He was unimpressive in an opening-round victory over Russian teenager Andrey Rublev and rolled his right ankle in the second round. Against Querrey, Murray's ankle didn't seem to be a factor.
With Thursday's shocking departure of the No. 2-seeded Djokovic, no one man came into Friday's Australian Open play hotter than Jack Sock. In his first 10 matches of 2017, Sock remarkably managed to get to match point every single time. That included a 6-0 record in ATP World Tour events, plus a 3-1 exhibition mark at the Hopman Cup in Perth.
Of course, no one probably was more fatigued than the No. 23 seed when he reached the third round here.
Not surprisingly, Sock looked a little leg-weary in losing to No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3. Tsonga stroked 73 winners and saw his serve broken only once in a match that ran 3 hours, 33 minutes.
The 31-year-old Frenchman is now 3-0 against Sock in his career. Tsonga will take on Daniel Evans of Great Britain who upset Australian favorite Bernard Tomic in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3).
"I'm really happy the way I played," Tsonga said. "Sometimes my mind is going away, but I try to be focused on the game. Today I played well."
This is Tsonga's 10th trip Down Under, and he has made the fourth round eight times, and went as far as the final in 2008.
Going back to Sock's winning week in Auckland, New Zealand, this was his seventh match in 10 days. Sock took the title there, doubling his career total, and then made the short flight to Melbourne. While some players had been on site for more than week, Sock had one day to rest before his first-round match.
No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka won the last Grand Slam of the 2016 season, but his performance in 2017 has been spotty.
Wawrinka dropped the first set to Viktor Troicki but rallied to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7) and advance to the fourth round.
The 31-year-old from Switzerland was extended to five sets in his first round match against Martin Klizan. He was nearly pushed to the maximum again but prevailed in a taut tiebreaker.
Wawrinka will next play Andreas Seppi, who beat Steve Darcis earlier Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.