Rafael Nadal has blown away American qualifier Sebastian Korda 6-1 6-1 6-2 to romp into the French Open quarter-finals and close in on a record-extending 13th title at Roland Garros.
With the sun out and the wind up on Court Philippe Chatrier it always looked like mission impossible for the 213th-ranked Korda and so it proved on Sunday in a one-sided fourth-round match.
Korda, 20, actually had two break points in Nadal’s opening service game that spanned nine minutes, and also had game point in the next game in a competitive opening.
He did not win either, however, and once Nadal had sprinted into a 5-0 lead the American already looked down and out in Paris.
Korda, son of 1998 Australian Open champion and 1992 French Open runner-up Petr, was unable to cope with the strong breeze or Nadal’s heavy spin as the first two sets went by in little more than an hour.
Even the 34-year-old Nadal can lose focus occasionally though and he dropped serve at the start of the second set to trail 2-0 before rattling through the next six games.
Nadal has dropped only 23 games so far and is yet to face a seed. He will next take on either US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev or rising Italian Jannick Sinner in his 42nd Grand Slam the quarter-final, third on the all-time list.