When clay-court machine Rafael Nadal faces his old friend Richard Gasquet, the 10-time Roland Garros champion usually gets a free ride.
And that was again the case on Saturday as the defending champion bulldozed past the local favourite 6-3 6-2 6-2 to reach the French Open last 16.
Top-seeded Nadal won the first 12 points of the match and opened up a 5-0 led before Gasquet finally got into the contest, but it was once more too little, too late for a player who had been labelled the “Mozart of tennis” in his teenage years.
There was a sense of inevitability about the outcome when both players made their appearance on Court Philippe Chatrier, where Nadal is the huge favourite to lift the Musketeers Cup for a record-extending 11th time.
“I played very well, I’m sorry for Richard, he is a good friend and a good person,” said Nadal, who played a few rallies with a ball boy after his match.
He has now won 30 sets in a row on the Parisian red dust and his last-16 opponent, 70th ranked 22-year-old German Maximilian Marterer, doesn’t exactly seem equipped to cope with the Mallorcan’s range of weapons.
Gasquet was totally overwhelmed on Saturday but in a bid to give the home fans something to shout about, Gasquet spurred himself into action and with a few beautiful shots reduced the gap to 5-3 in the opener.
But Nadal was in no mood for a marathon and he bagged the first set on serve before putting Gasquet to the sword again at the beginning of the second and third sets, making sure there was no hope of a comeback amongst the Frenchman’s supporters.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Mischa Zverev couldn’t keep up with younger brother Alexander at the French Open, ending their bid to become the first siblings in 27 years to reach the fourth round at the same grand slam tournament.
The 64th-ranked Mischa lost in the third round to 2017 US Open runner-up Kevin Anderson, of South Africa, 6-1 6-7 (7-3) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) on Saturday.
Italy’s Fabio Fognini marched on after he beat 16th-seeded Briton Kyle Edmund 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4.
The 18th-seeded Fognini hasn’t reached the fourth round since 2011, when he lost in the quarterfinals.
