• French Open, Day Seven

Nadal continues to look unstoppable in Paris

Rafael Nadal is unbeaten on clay in 2010 © Getty Images

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Day seven gallery
Women's round-up

Rafael Nadal continues to look the man to beat at the French Open after he cruised past Lleyton Hewitt 6-3 6-4 6-3 in the third round.

The No. 2 seed's quest for a fifth title at Roland Garros marches onward - and he has now extended his unbeaten run on clay in 2010 to 18 matches.

It hasn't been the best year for Hewitt - pre-match his record stood at 12 wins, six losses - and he never looked capable of severing Nadal's winning streak.

The pugnacious Australian was never likely to go down without a fight, however, and he had his moments during the first set - including a break of serve in the opening game.

Nadal did not let the early setback knock his composure, and he would claim four breaks of his own on his way to the opening stanza. In the second set Hewitt, who was never likely to die wondering, caused Nadal occasional difficulty with his aggressive approach - but the Spaniard's break in the ninth game saw him over the line.

Although Hewitt now faced the near-impossible task of taking three successive sets off Nadal, his fighting spirit was not diminished. After losing his serve in the first game of the third, he immediately struck back - but Nadal ultimately proved too good.

2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic saw off the spirited challenge of Romania's Victor Hanescu to set up a potential fourth-round clash with former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero at the French Open.

The Serb, a two-time semi-finalist on the red dust of Paris, never hit top form as his serve threatened to dent any hopes of progression, but a string of gritty forehand returns, particularly in the third and fourth sets, saw the No. 3 seed seal a 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 win.

Teimuraz Gabashvili completed the biggest win of his carer with a straight sets win over Andy Roddick © Getty Images

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Hanescu had his opponent on the ropes in the third set as he moved a break ahead with the score level in sets. Djokovic dug in though and battled his way back to clinch a topsy-turvy third set, before confirming his place in the last 16 by cleaning up the fourth set.

No. 6 seed Andy Roddick slipped to a shock third-round exit at the hands of Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili. The American, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time last year, never looked likely of repeating that feat as he struggled to live with his unseeded opponent. Gabashvili has enjoyed the best results of his career on clay and looked right at home as he made light work of Roddick to continue his best ever run in Paris with a 6-4 6-4 6-2 win.

Fellow Russian player Mikhail Youzhny picked up where he left off on Friday evening as he set up a fourth-round clash with home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga by finishing off Viktor Troicki. The No. 11 seed resumed the day with a one set advantage and looked in no mood to hang around as he won three games in a row to seal a 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2 6-3 success.

Spain's David Ferrer is also out after going down in straight sets to Jurgen Melzer The No. 9 seed, who reached the quarter-finals in 2003 and 2008, was expected to feature in the latter stages of the tournament but never got on top of his opponent as he fell to a comprehensive 6-4 6-0 7-6(1) defeat.

No. 7 seed Fernando Verdasco eventually emerged as the victor after an epic battle against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Verdasco was not at the races during the first set, but he bounced back to seal a 2-6 6-3 6-3 6-7(1) 6-4 triumph.

2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero battled back from two sets down against Robby Ginepri - but his efforts were ultimately in vain as he slumped to a 7-5 6-3 3-6 2-6 6-4 loss.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Nicolas Almagro and Thomaz Bellucci.

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