Dominic Thiem lays down marker after beating Gael Monfils to reach Australian Open quarter-finals

Dominic Thiem threw down the gauntlet to Rafael Nadal with an impressive display to beat Gael Monfils in straight sets and reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.

The Austrian dominated from start to finish with an array of sublime forehand winners and consistent serving with Monfils, 34, unable to match his athleticism.

After just under two hours of play at the Rod Laver Arena, the fifth seed recorded a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 triumph to book book his place in the last eight for the first time in his career.

The 26-year-old will face Nadal in the last eight if the Spaniard gets past the home favourite Nick Kyrgios in the last quarter-final match on Day 8.

The motivation of getting revenge on Nadal after losing in two French Open finals and improving on a disappointing second round exit last year would have played on the mind of Thiem heading into this contest.

But with Monfils arguably in the best form since his no. 6 ranking in 2016, the Austrian knew it would be a tough task.

The 26-year-old showed an aggressive approach from the first minute, hitting cleanly and powerfully to make Monfils sprint from corner to corner.

While every game for Monfils felt like a 10km run up a hill in the Swiss Alps, Thiem was coasting through his, racking up various love holds and only dropped four points on serve in the first set and wrapped it up 6-2 in just 27 minutes.

The French number one wasn't about to lie down given his record in coming back from a set or even two sets down.

Indeed, Thiem had to wait patiently for his chance to strike in the seventh game as Monfils paid the price for a horrendous volley at the net and Thiem never looked back, taking a much tighter second set 6-4.

Monfils served a reminder to the crowd as to why they were cheering his name, producing an outrageous flying backhand from a Thiem smash and an underarm serve.

But Thiem's approach was a clinical and winning one. He broke in the first game of the third and having been unbeaten on serve throughout the entire match, that felt like the end.

With three match points at 5-4, he forced Monfils into the net to clinch the victory and fire a warning to Nadal and Kyrgios that he means business.