Nadal eases past Hewitt

Rafael Nadal shook off dogged resistance from Lleyton Hewitt to ease into the fourth round of the French Open.

Four-time champion Nadal showed glimpses of his mastery of clay despite once again not being at his very best on a soggy Philippe Chatrier Court.

And the second seed dominated more than enough of the pressure points to seal a 6-3 6-4 6-3 in two hours 28 minutes and set up a last-16 clash with 24th seed Thomaz Bellucci.

It was the fourth time Nadal and Hewitt had met at Roland Garros and the fifth time on clay - the Spaniard winning them all, including at the same stage in Paris last year.

Despite claiming to have made a slow start to his quest for a fifth French Open title, Nadal had lost only 13 games en route to round three - fewer than any other year.

He was caught cold by a fast start from Hewitt today, dropping his serve in the opening game but he then reeled off the next four games thanks to a combination of his own brilliance and slack play from the Australian 28th seed.

Despite facing another break point, that run proved enough to clinch the first set, Hewitt swearing in frustration as Nadal was serving it out.

The Spaniard broke again in game three of the second set but immediately handed his opponent parity. Both men held until game nine, when Hewitt netted and then went long to gift Nadal a break from which the 23-year-old did not look back.

World number 33 Hewitt fired wide to drop serve in the opening game of the third set but Nadal immediately surrendered the advantage following a warning from the umpire for taking too long between points.

Rain began to fall at the start of a marathon fifth game, which saw Nadal squander several break points but, as in the first set, he reeled off another four-game winning streak to seal victory.