A total of 254 singles matches will be played at the 2009 Australian Open. Halfway through the year’s first major tournament, the tennis world likely witnessed the very best of the bunch.

Grand Slam tennis matches are often decided by fitness, tactics and nerves. The grueling nature of the sport–particularly in five-set men’s matches–offers multiple occasions in which the weaker athlete can, and will, fold up the tent. In the crucible of big-time tennis, the losing player usually gets exposed; the victory merely avoids mistakes in key moments. A mental midget is easier to spot than an iron-willed warrior.

Stay on court long enough, and you’ll experience the doubt that overwhelms every man or woman who has ever picked up a racquet. Only a very select few, the giants of the game, manage to conquer this doubt on an appreciably consistent basis. The rule–not the exception–is that most tennis matches are decided by lapses from the loser, not excellence from the winner.

Saturday’s soaring and sensational third-round match between Fernando Gonzalez and Richard Gasquet managed to break the rules of big-event tennis. This Aussie Open encounter in Margaret Court Arena will very likely become the best match of the entire tournament, barring something special in the second week of the fortnight Down Under.

For 4 hours and 9 minutes, Gonzalez–the 13th-seeded Chilean and the 2007 runner-up in Melbourne Park–traded haymakers with Gasquet, the 24th-seeded Frenchman who was looking to reach the fourth round of this event for the third straight year. When the smoke cleared at the end of what was essentially an overtime match, Gonzalez overcame a two-set deficit to earn a 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (10), 6-2, 12-10 triumph. The boisterous Chilean contingent that packed the stands lit fireworks at the end, but these two men were creating explosions of their own from the moment they stepped on the court.

To understand the brilliance of this match, it’s worth taking a deeper look at the participants. Gonzalez and Gasquet are both mercurial, up-and-down players who have rarely attained high-level consistency on the men’s tour. Gonzalez pulled off an amazing run two years ago in Australia, routing Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and then dismantling Tommy Haas in the semifinals with a virtually perfect match featuring 42 winners against just 3 errors. Outside of that one tremendous tournament–which concluded with a loss in the final to Roger Federer–Gonzalez has never reached a Grand Slam semifinal. The 2008 Olympic silver medalist possesses a full arsenal of shots, but is rarely able to keep the ball between the painted lines. An erratic game and an uneven temperament have prevented “Gonzo” from occupying a permanent place in the top 10.

With Gasquet, the issues facing his own career development are–on a general level–similar to the ones being dealt with by Gonzalez. They merely manifest themselves in a different manner.

Gasquet isn’t a demonstrative or boisterous person; the Frenchman lacks the passionate and zesty South American fire possessed by Gonzalez. Yet, it remains that Gasquet has been similarly unable to deliver the goods in slams. Like Gonzalez, he owns just one five-star performance in a slam event, the 2007 Wimbledon tournament when he played extraordinary tennis in the final three sets to take a five-set quarterfinal from Andy Roddick. Gasquet reached his only slam semifinal before losing to the omnipresent Federer. Outside of that thrilling fortnight in England, however, Gasquet hasn’t reached the quarterfinals in any other slam event. Such a resume is shocking for the player known to many as “Baby Fed,” a testament to the elegance of Gasquet’s groundstrokes, particularly a whipping one-handed backhand that is the picture of majesty when struck cleanly.

So it was, then, that two men haunted by the demons of pressure and inconsistency trotted out to court with a round of 16 spot on the line. For all their talents, these two shotmakers weren’t known as such; they carried the weight of being headcases, a harsh but generally deserved label in a profession that punishes weakness between the ears. When Fernando Gonzalez and Richard Gasquet began to engage in mortal combat on Saturday evening in Melbourne Park, the smart money suggested that whoever lost would come unglued and see his high-risk style unravel.

The glory of this match, then, is that the two men–true to their personalities–went for their shots, yet never truly faltered. The result was something to behold.

This match wasn’t decided by mental toughness or physical fitness or the tactics employed in battle. This match was a delight for the tennis aficionado because it came down to shotmaking. The man with the superior weapon in his hand, the one who could create racquet magic a little more often, won this match. Nothing pleases a tennis crowd more than artful manipulations of the ball produced by sweet swings of the stick; when a tennis match can be decided by shotmaking, and not the mental intangibles, an entertainment extravaganza will unfold.

Just how great was the tennis displayed by Gonzo and Gasquet? Try these mind-blowing stats: Both men won 191 points; hit at least 80 winners (Gonzo 85, Gasquet 80); and had fewer than 60 errors (Gonzo 51, Gasquet 58). The third-set tiebreak and the epic fifth set both ended in 12-10 scores, and showcased jaw-dropping feats of athletic excellence.

The fifth set–given its centrality in deciding the ultimate outcome–proved to be particularly amazing because both players received visits from the ATP trainer early in the set. Gasquet–battling blisters on his feet–was especially distressed as the final set continued, and the Frenchman had to go for broke on his shots in order to keep points short. Yet, that didn’t stop him or Gonzalez–who could have become rattled under such circumstances–from showing their best stuff.

Serving to stay in the match at 9-10, Gasquet threw down four untouchable serves to prolong the proceedings. Having gained a break point at 10-all, 30-40, Gasquet could only watch as Gonzo unleashed an all-or-nothing inside-out forehand that painted the left sideline. Gonzo held for 11-10, and then closed out the match with three perfect shots: another inside-out forehand winner, a spectacular defensive lob after a great volley from Gasquet, and a classic down-the-line backhand into the corner. Nobody’s perfect, but on a special Saturday in Melbourne, Fernando Gonzalez and Richard Gasquet came pretty darn close. The memorable match fashioned by these two fighters will long remain one of the very best duels in the history of the Australian Open.