Nadal, Blake, Schnyder move ahead in French Open

Updated at 7.17 pm

PARIS: Patty Schnyder, the Swiss seventh seed, reached the French Open fourth round on Friday with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 win over Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine.

Schnyder now faces either American 11th seed Venus Williams or Karolina Sprem of Croatia for a place in the quarter-finals.

American eighth seed James Blake beat Spain's Nicolas Almagro 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the French Open third round on Friday.

Blake faces French 25th seed Gael Monfils for a place in the quarterfinals.

Champion Rafael Nadal flexed his claycourt muscles to power into the third round with a 6-2 6-1 6-4 win over American lucky loser Kevin Kim on Friday.   

On the eve of his 20th birthday, the Spanish second seed extended his record-winning streak on the slow surface to 55 as Kim struggled to come to grips with the swirling breeze around Court Suzanne Lenglen.   

Nadal, who had to wait in the locker room on Thursday after his match was postponed by rain, took his time to find his groove on Friday.   

But once he had established a 4-2 lead in the first set, Nadal won seven games on the trot against his 116th-ranked opponent who was clearly out of his depth.