The Balearic player beats the Dutch Van de Zandschulp in three sets, and the pass to the quarterfinals will be played against Au REINgger-Aliassime, the pupil of Toni Nadal.

Rafa Nadal is already in the round of 16 at Roland Garros. The Balearic player reinforced his self-esteem this Friday by beating Dutchman Biotic van de Zandschulp in the third round, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, and continuing his path towards his goal fourteenth title in the Parisian Grand Slam. After defeating the number 29 in the world without complications, Nadal will fight for a place in the quarterfinals on Sunday against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the pupil of Toni Nadal, uncle of the Manacorense tennis player. The latter has not yielded a single set so far in the tournament and needed only two hours and 10 minutes to defeat Van de Zandschulp.

Novak Djokovic also made it to the round of 16 this Friday, beating Slovenian Aljaz Bedene, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, before Nadal offered another lesson in solidity against Van de Zandschulp, the victim of the 21-time champion of Grand Slam, who walks like a firm step in his favorite land and goes from less to more. If Nadal and Djokovic meet the forecasts on Sunday - the Serbian will play against the Argentine Diego Schwartzman - both will meet in the quarterfinals. Nadal signed his victory number 301 in Grand Slam tournaments in the third round and already has 108 wins and only three defeats in the 'major' in the French capital.

"I played a good match against a difficult rival," Nadal congratulated himself after signing a new record since the man from Manacor won 23 games in a row serving an opponent who, despite standing up in the last round, never had options against the former world number one, who for the moment has forgotten about his chronic foot injury in the

French capital. Although Van de Zadschulp boasted of a punch and began by breaking the Spaniard's serve, the Dutchman would no longer win a single point with Nadal's serve in the first set. The duel continued to be a Nadal monologue at the Suzanne Lenglen, with Zinedine Zidane among the spectators of such an unbalanced encounter.

Just as Jordan Thompson and Corentin Moutet could not snatch a set from Nadal before, the Dutchman also could not break the momentum in Nadal's best match in this edition, waiting for more significant obstacles, such as the enormous challenge that would await him in their way to the semi-finals. With total solvency, Nadal qualified for the round of 16 at Roland Garros for the seventeenth time in eighteen editions. He achieved it with 87% with his first service, 54% with the second, and only 13 unforced errors, compared to 31 in his rival.

On Sunday, he awaits Augger-Aliassime, whom Nadal has defeated the only time they have faced each other so far, 6-3 and 6-3 at the Masters 1,000 in Madrid in 2019. This Friday, the Canadian also had to battle and suffer for three hours against the Serbian Filip Krajinovic, whom he won 7-6 (5), 6-2, 5-7, and 6-1. Djokovic also advances steadily in the same part of the draw. She has not lost a set so far in the tournament, nor has he shown weakness.