Rafael Nadal powered his way into the fourth round of his beloved French Open with a merciless 6-1 6-4 6-0 demolition of Italian Stefano Travaglia on Saturday (NZ time).
The second seed, looking to extend his record to 13 titles at Roland Garros and hoping to match Roger Federer's record of 20 men's Grand Slam singles titles, will next meet American Sebastian Korda.
Nadal encountered little resistance on court Philippe Chatrier, hitting 28 winners and saying stars started to align in Paris.
"The scoreline is because I did a lot of good things, I went to the net more often, I was more aggressive," says Nadal.
"I played my best match here at Roland Garros this year."
Nadal started in dominant fashion, winning the first nine points.
After 23 minutes, the first set was already in his bag. Travaglia had only managed six points, being completely overwhelmed by the Spaniard's power.
Travaglia played deeper early in the second set and Nadal found himself with a little challenge.
He broke for 4-3 but in the following game faced his first break point, which he saved to extend his lead to 5-3, then holding to love to move two sets up.
Travaglia's resistance cost him dearly as he collapsed in the third set, managing only eight points.
Earlier, third seed Dominic Thiem was not at his best but still had enough firepower to see off the challenge from Norway's Casper Ruud with a 6-4 6-3 6-1 win to march into the fourth round of the French Open.
The US Open champion, who lost to Nadal in the last two finals at Roland Garros, struggled with his serve in the opening set and faced six breakpoints but improved as the match progressed under the closed roof of Court Philippe Chatrier.
Facing the 21-year-old Ruud for the first time, the Austrian broke the 28th seed's serve six times and hit 32 winners to seal the match with a fifth ace on his second matchpoint.
Thiem, 27, will next meet local hope Hugo Gaston next.
Reuters
