Nadal breezed past Lleyton Hewitt for the third time in four years at Roland Garros on Friday as the four-time champion took another confident step closer to a record fifth French Open title.
Nadal won 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to clinch a 31st consecutive win at the tournament. Fernando Verdasco edged closer to another showdown with Nadal after taking the hard road to see off Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8) in their third round clash.
Serbian Novak Djokovic reached the third round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky. Djokovic will face German 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber who put out Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion, for a place in the last 16.
Ivanovic, Safina cruise Defending champion Ana Ivanovic and top seed Dinara Safina moved a step closer to a quarterfinal showdown as both brushed aside third round opponents. The Serb trumped Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-2 while the Russian blasted beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with a near identical score of 6-2, 6-0.
There was heartache for another favourite as Venus Williams lost 6-0, 6-4 to Agnes Szavay of Hungary.
At 16, the youngest player left in the women's draw, Larcher de Brito lost 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to France's Aravane Rezai in a bad-tempered clash.
Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a backhand during his Men's Singles Third Round match against Lleyton Hewitt of Australia on day six of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 29, 2009 in Paris, France.
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