FRENCH OPEN
Venue: Roland Garros Date: 24 May - 7 June
Coverage: Live on BBC Red Button, live streaming and daily text commentary on BBC Sport website, updates on BBC Radio 5 Live plus second week commentary on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. TV coverage on Eurosport.
Nadal has now won 31 consecutive matches at the French Open
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Defending champion Rafael Nadal was in dominant form as he continued his rapid progress at the French Open, outplaying Lleyton Hewitt to reach round four.
After wrapping up the first set in just 30 minutes, Nadal overcame sterner resistance from Hewitt in the second set with some astonishing winners.
The top seed ran away with the third set to complete a 6-1 6-3 6-1 victory.
Elsewhere, fourth seed Novak Djokovic won his delayed second-round match with Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-4 6-1.
But all eyes were on Nadal, who again showed why he is the man to beat at Roland Garros with a scintilating display against the former world number one.
It's not pleasant when you don't finish a match in one day but I was lucky to come back and be two sets up
Novak Djokovic
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Nadal piled the pressure on Hewitt from the start, breaking the Australian twice in his first three service games to lead 5-1 and saving a break point of his own before wrapping up the first set.
Hewitt's serve was undone again by the Spaniard's thumping groundstrokes at the start of the second set but the former world number one showed trademark determination to win three games in a row and lead 3-2.
Stubborness on its own was not enough, however, and two phenomenal forehand winners down the line from Nadal quickly saw him break again and Hewitt soon found himself two sets down.
There was no way back from there and Nadal raced through the third set to clinch his 31st straight win in Paris.
Djokovic, who has lost to Nadal in the semi-finals in each of the last two years, was almost as impressive as he finished off Stakhovsky in just 35 minutes.
The Serb, who led by two sets when darkness stopped play on Thursday, kept his momentum when the match resumed on Friday to outplay the world number 110 in just 35 minutes.
Stakhovsky, a qualifier who won his first match at a Grand Slam in the opening round, had led 4-1 in the second set before Djokovic rallied but he could not provide any sort of opposition in the third set.
Djokovic was in total control throughout against Stakhovsky
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Djokovic broke in the first game and, although he dropped his own serve when serving for the match at 5-0, he quickly wrapped up a straightforward victory.
"It's not pleasant when you don't finish a match in one day," the 22-year-old said. "But I was lucky to come back and be two sets up.
"I played really well all through the third set and I am happy to finish early so I can have more time to recover for my next match."
He will play Philipp Kohlschreiber next after the German came through a marathon match with Juan Carlos Ferrero that had also begun on Thursday.
The score was locked at two sets all overnight but Kohlschreiber, the 29th seed, eventually prevailed 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.
Ferrero, the 2003 champion who is now ranked 104th in the world, revealed afterwards that he is contemplating retirement at the end of the season, saying: "It will depend on my ranking, my physical condition and my motivation.
"From a tennis point of view everything is fine, but as far as motivation is concerned there are ups and downs. We will see if I am in the top 100 or outside. That will affect my decision."
Spain's eighth seed Fernando Verdasco became the first man to reach the last 16 after beating compatriot Nicolas Almagro in straight sets.
Verdasco did not have things all his own way during a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8) victory but his greater consistency was the difference and, after nine match points, he prevailed to set up a clash with 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko.
606: DEBATE
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Davydenko, a two-time semi-finalist at Roland Garros, saw off Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-2.
"I feel fit at the moment, and I hope I'll feel fit for the next match and continue on the same track," Verdasco said.
Elsewhere,Fernando Gonzalez, who reached the last eight in Paris in 2008, continued his impressive progress this year by beating France's Josselin Ouanna.
The 28-year-old Chilean, who like Verdasco has not dropped a set in any of his matches so far, won 7-5 6-3 7-5 to set up a clash with Victor Hanescu, who upset seventh seed Gilles Simon 6-4 6-4 6-2.
Croatia's Marin Cilic beat Radek Stepanek 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 and the 13th seed will play Andy Murray or Janko Tipsarevic in the fourth round.
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