PARIS: Rafael Nadal produced another imposing display of claycourt tennis at Roland Garros on Saturday to crush Argentinian Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 and reach the last 16 of the French Open.

Seeking to become the first man to win five straight titles in Paris and the first to win nine times at the same Grand Slam, Nadal set up a meeting with unheralded Serbian Dujan Lajovic, who beat American Jack Sock 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 and also has yet to drop a set.

The man Nadal defeated in last year’s final, fellow Spaniard David Ferrer, also reached the last 16 by defeating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Ferrer blazed through the opening set but let his guard down in the second after an early break and was forced into a tiebreak he won 7-2.

The third set was a mere formality and the fifth seed finished it off on his first match point with one of his trademark forehand winners down the line.

He will now go on to take on 19th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa who moved through when opponent Ivo Karlovic of Croatia retired with a back injury after losing the first set 6-3.

While seeds cruised on the men’s side, 2009 French Open women’s champion Svetlana Kuznetsova came back to beat an error-prone fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 9-7, while the 2008 title winner at Roland Garros, Ana Ivanovic, bowed out with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to 23rd-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Kvitova took two medical timeouts and came back from the first with a heavily strapped right thigh, but it did not seem to hamper her as she peppered the court with winners. But her 65 unforced errors eventually cost her as she bowed out on the third match point.

Later, Safarova, who has a 4-2 record against the 11th-seeded Ivanovic having won their last four encounters, was never really bothered by the Serbian’s uncontrolled power.

Fourth-seeded Simona Halep, the highest-ranked woman left, made the last 16 for the first time as the Romanian continued to escape the Roland Garros carnage.

The 22-year-old brushed aside Spain’s Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-3, 6-0 and next tackles 15th seeded American Sloane Stephens. Halep, 22, has lost just 11 games in three rounds in Paris.

In contrast, the failure of Serena Williams, Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska to get beyond the third round marked the first time in the Open era that the top three seeds had gone out before the last 16.

Halep, relegated to Court 2 for her third round match, finished off Torro-Flor in just 64 minutes.

Stephens was in less devastating form than in her first two matches but she was still too strong for Ekaterina Makarova in a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Russian left-hander.

Tenth-seeded Sara Errani, the 2012 French Open runner-up to Maria Sharapova, made only seven unforced errors in her 6-0, 6-1 victory over 98th-ranked Julia Glushko of Israel. Errani now plays 2008 US Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic, a 6-1, 6-2 winner against No 26 Sorana Cirstea of Romania.

Meanwhile, Spaniard Marcel Granollers overcame Slovak Martin Klizan, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in a men’s third-round match carried on from Friday which resumed with Granollers was ahead two sets to one.

In Friday’s late matches, eighth seed Milos Raonic became the first Canadian man to reach the round of 16 at Roland Garros.

The 23-year-old number eight seed defeated France’s 29th seed Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a match which ended in the gloom at 2130 local time (1930GMT).

On the women’s side, eighth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany advanced into the fourth round with a 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Slovakian 31st seed Daniela Hantuchova while fast-rising Canadian Eugenie Bouchard defeated Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-5, 6-4.

France’s Pauline Parmentier became just the fourth wildcard to reach the women’s last 16 at Roland Garros in the Open era, outlasting Germany’s Mona Barthel 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2014