Defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal and Austria’s Dominic Thiem continued their unblemished starts at the French Open on Friday with successive straight sets victories in the third round.
Nadal, the 12-time champion, recorded his 96th Roland Garros win as the world number two crushed Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 to ease into the last 16.
Thiem prevailed 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 against Norway’s Casper Ruud earlier on Court Philippe Chatrier and goes on to face 20-year-old Frenchman Hugo Gaston, who produced the upset of the day.
Qualifier Gaston, who is ranked at 239 in the world, bested 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland over five sets as he fought from a set down to succeed 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
In the women’s draw, top seed Simona Halep produced a ruthless display to dismiss American Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-1 in 54 minutes.
Fifth seed Kiki Bertens recovered from the cramp that saw her leave a court in a wheelchair in her previous match against Italian Sara Errani. The Dutchwoman showed no signs of discomfort as she eased to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Czech Katerina Siniakova.
Elina Svitolina, seeded third, is also through after the 26-year-old Ukrainian eliminated Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 6-4. She goes on to meet Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who needed six match points before knocking out Belgian 16th seed Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
German sixth seed Alexander Zverev also advanced with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 success over Italian Marco Cecchinato and will now play another of Cecchinato’s compatriots in 19-year-old Jannik Sinner, who dispatched Federico Coria of Argentina 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.
But one Argentine in 12th seed Diego Schwartzman made it through after dismissing Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3.
Schwartzman matches up with another Italian Lorenzo Sonego after he defeated American Taylor Fritz in a record-length tie-break 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (19-17).
Nadal will have the chance to equal Roger Federer’s record of 20 grand slams if he goes on to lift the trophy again for a record-extending 13th time.
The Spaniard asserted his dominance on the clay against Travaglia in the first set en route to victory in 1 hour 35 minutes.
And despite only losing two matches at Roland Garros in his entire career, Nadal says he doesn’t feel invincible on court.
“I don’t feel that I am that dominant,” said the world number two. “The result says, but the game is another story. Every single match is a challenge.”
Nadal comes up against 20-year-old American qualifier Sebastian Korda, who is the son of the Czech Republic’s 1998 Australian Open winner Petr.
“He’s my biggest idol,” Korda commented on Nadal after his 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 win over another Spaniard Pedro Martinez.
“He’s one of the reasons I play tennis. Just watching him play, unbelievable competitor. I’m looking forward to it.”
The 27-year-old Thiem is aiming for back-to-back major wins following his maiden success at the US Open.
He has not dropped a set so far in Paris after wins over Marin Cilic and American Jack Sock in the previous rounds.
“I really love this tournament, and I would love to go deep to play well,” Thiem said.
Anisimova knocked Halep out of last year’s quarter-finals when the Romanian was the defending champion in their first-ever meeting at the clay grand slam.
“I took the game in my hands,” said Halep, who next meets Poland’s Iga Swatiek in the next phase after she dispatched Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-2.
“Last year I was very far from the court, and I played fairly short so she could play her game. When she has time and she has the ball in the right position, she is very dangerous and she plays great. I think I did a great job.”