Tennis: Deja vu as Nadal crushes his friend Gasquet in Paris

When claycourt machine Rafa Nadal faces his old friend Richard Gasquet the 10-time Roland Garros champion gets a free ride and that was again the case as he bulldozed past the local favorite 6-3 6-2 6-2 to reach the French Open last 16 on Saturday.

Rafa Nadal in action at Roland Garros. (Photo: Reuters)
Rafa Nadal in action at Roland Garros. (Photo: Reuters)

Top seed 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 labeled the ‘Mozart of tennis’ in his teenage years.

Gasquet actually won their last encounter - but it was at the Kooyong Classic exhibition event this year.

When it matters Nadal must know he won’t get into trouble, having not dropped a set against a player who was his rival in the juniors since 2008.

There was a sense of inevitability about the outcome when both players made their appearance on Court Philippe Chatrier, where Nadal is the huge favorite to lift the Musketeers Cup for a record-extending 11th time.

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, does not exactly seem equipped to cope with the Mallorcan’s range of weapons.

Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates winning his third round match against France's Richard Gasquet. (Reuters)

Gasquet was totally overwhelmed on Saturday, finding himself trailing 5-0 after 12 minutes, and the Parisian crowd felt it could be an express washout.

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.

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.

On the women’s side, three-time champion Serena Williams made a nonsense of her 451 world ranking to reach the last-16 with a ruthless 6-3, 6-4 romp past German 11th seed Julia Goerges, to set up a mouth-watering French Open showdown against bitter rival Maria Sharapova

Sharapova, the 2012 and 2014 winner in Paris, was equally impressive, seeing off Czech sixth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1.

Sharapova and Williams have met 21 times, with the American leading the head-to-head record 19-2 after 18 consecutive wins.

Williams, the champion in 2002, 2013 and 2015 and playing her first Slam since giving birth to her daughter in September, last played a major at the Australian Open in 2017 while two months pregnant.

Reuters