MELBOURNE, Australia—Grigor Dimitrov is playing substantially better than he did in 2016. He has won eight straight matches to start the season and has been on fire during the Australian Open, dropping just one set in his first three matches.

On Saturday, he crushed No. 18 seed Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

"A match like that, it helps me,” the 25-year-old said. “It helps me to have more confidence, to feel better on the court, more secure in my shots. Just a lot of positives. I take a lot of positives out of that match. The first couple of matches were so-so, in my opinion. To be able to come out tonight and step up against a player like Richard, it means a lot to me and gives me good credit.

"At the same time, I just need to focus now; just need to keep the same line, just control.”

Dimitrov, who reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2014, says that in the last few months he’s began to keep his chin up. In Cincinnati last August, he reached the semis after upsetting three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. He reached the final in Beijing in October, upsetting Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic before losing to Andy Murray. The Bulgarian is ranked 15th after falling to 40th before the hard-court season.

He will face Denis Istomin in the fourth round in Melbourne.

“With Grigor, I think I beat him when he was like 17 in a Challenger," the 30-year-old Istomin said. “It was a tough match. But I lost to him in Shanghai. He's been in the Top 10, so I will try to play like I played with Novak [Djokovic].”