Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal has advanced to the last 16 with a straight-sets victory in the third round. On the women’s side, defending champion Garbine Muguruza also cruised through to the quarterfinals. Reports Deutsche Welle.
Nadal dropped just one game on his way to his straight-sets victory over Nikoloz Basilazhvili, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 on Friday. This was the 100th best-of-five-sets match on clay for the Spaniard, who took his record on the surface to 98 and two.
“I don’t know if it was perfection,” said the Spaniard, who turns 31 on Saturday. “I went on court thinking it was going to be a tough match … I believe I played the best match since a while.”
The No. 4 seed is to face fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, (17) in the quarterfinals, as he continues his bid for “La Decima” – his 10th French Open title.
He’s still on course to meet defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals after the Serbian came back from two sets to one down to win a five set thriller against Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
