MELBOURNE, Australia -- A code violation changed Mardy Fish's composure and his fortunes in Friday's third-round loss to Jarkko Nieminen at the Australian Open.

A misdirected ball sailed near an official in the third game of the third set.

"I was just a little frustrated because we were having a fine match," Fish said after the 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-1 loss. "Jarkko and I are good friends and were obviously trying to beat the ... out of each other, and the umpire jumps in and says I tried to hit the linesman with a ball, which is just not the case."

Fish's reaction on the court was not so measured.

The video feed of the match picked up a clearly upset Fish berating chair umpire Damian Steiner of Argentina, accusing him of ruining a "great match."

Fish went on to serve out the game, but won just two more games the rest of the match.

He appeared frustrated and angry for throughout the last set, muttering to himself and scowling at the umpire and his opponent.

The match was disrupted earlier when rain forced the players indoors under the Vodafone Arena roof with Fish leading 4-3 in the first set.

This, at least, pleased Fish.

"I was happy to get indoors," he said. "I thought the court conditions outside were playing really slow and that wasn't going to favor me at all."

Tournament officials will meet Saturday morning to determine under what code Fish will be charged and his possible fine.

Hsieh makes history

After having to jostle with local amateurs for practice time back home, qualifier Su-wei Hsieh made tennis history Friday when she become the first Taiwanese player to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam.

With no tennis academies or institutes in Taiwan, Hsieh said she was forced to hire public courts and was kicked off by amateurs wanting to play when her allotted hour or two passed.

"You go to one court and maybe in the afternoon have to go to another place to get on a court," the 22-year-old Hsieh said after her 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4 win over France's Aravane Rezai.

One of seven children, Hsieh is coached by her father, Tzu-lung, who learned of the game one day when he saw it being played while passing by a court.

He went in to investigate, found out how to play and then taught it to his children, still serving as coach to all of them. He doesn't travel to tournaments, however, because Hsieh insists he stay home to coach her younger siblings.

Younger brother Cheng-peng is also flourishing under her father's tutelage, playing in the junior Australian Open starting Sunday.

Hsieh combined a "moon-ball," or looping lofted shot, with double-handed shots on both sides of her body to rally past Rezai.

"She made me run very much and I was tired, so I have to go moon-ball to get more seconds to rest," Hsieh explained.

Hsieh is guaranteed at least 85,625 Australian dollars (US$75,140; ?51,150) in prize money for making the fourth round here, and said she plans to use some of it buying her father a motorcycle.

Australian Siesta

No offense to the standard of play at the Australian Open, but No. 2 Rafael Nadal is having trouble staying awake.

Nadal has been denied his usual off-day ritual of challenging David Ferrer to PlayStation video games after he and his fellow Spaniard booked into separate hotels.

Instead he supplements his morning practice with rest, then more rest.

"I don't know what's happening here in Australia," Nadal said after advancing to the fourth round with a win over Gilles Simon. "I really don't know, but in the afternoon if I am in the room, I sleep two hours. I never sleep nothing but here.

"Australian siesta," he smiled. "In Mallorca is typical. Here I never do."

Nadal may have been suffering from some sleepiness at the start of his match Friday, taking a little while to wake up before downing Simon 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-1.

Nadal, playing at his third Australian Open, next faces Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. The three-time French Open champion's highest finish here was in the quarterfinals last year.

Earning every penny

If time is money, then Maria Sharapova certainly believes the women deserve equal pay in tennis.

"Of course it's fair. We were waiting for the men to finish five sets," she joked after easing into the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Elena Vesnina of Russia.

"We should get paid more for waiting around all day long."

Now that the women have earned parity with the men's pay, Sharapova thinks the prize money should be increased for both.

"I think prize money should grow in both women's and men's tennis, because I think the popularity of our sport is growing in so many different areas of the world," she said. "To see it expand with every trip you take into different regions, it's incredible."

Much to the relief of Sharapova's fashion sense, her father and coach, Yuri, has stopped wearing the hooded camouflage sweater and sunglasses that became a talking point after her first two matches.

She said it was her father's love of a good deal rather than any endorsement deal that prompted him to adopt the outfit.

"Well, I don't know if they're paying him money," she said. "He's happy to get some free sweaters."

Sharapova, 20, could afford to buy her dad a few. She has more than $10 million in career prize money, excluding endorsements. When she was off the tour last year due to a shoulder injury, she spent time decorating her two houses.