New Delhi: The two-time defending champion and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal made a mockery of the tag of 'match of the day' by hammering former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open in Paris.
Hewitt had said he would bring his street fighting game to court but he was at the receiving end from the word go. The Spaniard romped into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 win in just over two hours and 20 minutes to set up a clash with former champion and compatriot Carlos Moya.
Sixth seed Novak Djokovic also booked his place in the quarter-finals beating Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.
Djokovic never looked in trouble winning the first two sets 6-3, 6-3 in just an hour. Verdasco put up a fight in the third set to push it into a tie-breaker. But Djokovic held on to close out the match 6-3, 6-3, 7-6.
In another match former world No. 1 Carlos Moya entered the quarter-finals defeating Jonas Bjorkman in straight sets.
Though Bjorkman had taken a 5-3 lead in the first set but that was the only time he led in the entire match.
Moya came back to take the first set 7-6 and gave away just two games in the second set and then won the third set 7-5.
In the quarter-finals top seed and world No. 1 Roger Federer will take on ninth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain while fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko will face 19th seed Guillermo Canas, the man who has beaten Federer twice this year.
The youngest player in the last eight and sixth seed Novak Djokovic will take on Russian Igor Andreev while Nadal takes on the veteran Carlos Moya, the oldest player among the eight.
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