Kyrgios, often considered the "bad boy" of Australian sport, lit-up the home crowd in the most entertaining match of the tournament so far.

He won three tie-breaks on the Rod Laver Arena to triumph 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

"He [Tsonga] is a great guy, a champion of the game, someone I looked up to as a kid," said Kyrgios afterwards.

"To be in the locker room with these guys, the first year especially, was surreal."

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov lies in wait in round four after the Bulgarian won 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Russia's Andrey Rublev.

It came on a day where temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.

World number one Rafael Nadal still continued his serene progress despite the heat.

The Spaniard beat Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur to move into the second week without dropping a single set.

In the women's singles, Latvia's world number seven and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko suffered a shock loss to Estonia's Anett Kontaveit.

The world number 33 won 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark won, however, triumphing 6-4, 6-3 over Dutch opponent Kiki Bertens.