Defending champion Rafael Nadal marked his 20th birthday with a gruelling 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win against Paul-Henri Mathieu.
PARIS: Defending champion Rafael Nadal marked his 20th birthday with a gruelling 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win against Paul-Henri Mathieu on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering clash against Lleyton Hewitt for a place in the French Open quarter-finals.
In a third round clash which lasted just seven minutes short of five hours, Nadal took his claycourt winning streak to 56 matches, but he had to dig deep into his famed reservoir of resources to see off the 29th seeded Frenchman.
Buoyed by a passionate Philippe Chatrier Court home crowd, Mathieu gave Nadal an almighty scare before being undone by a combination of the Spaniard's brilliance and his own inability to keep the pressure on.
He sent down 65 unforced errors to Nadal's 39.
Hewitt, the 14th seed, enjoyed a comfortable 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2 win over Slovakian 22nd seed Dominik Hrbaty while Czech 11th seed Radek Stepanek, however, was beaten by France's Julien Benneteau 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (10/8), 6-3.
Benneteau will face Spain's Alberto Martin, who beat Belgian 27th seed Olivier Rochus in five tough sets, for a quarterfinal place.
Hewitt, playing Roland Garros for the first time in two years, swept past Hrbaty in two hours six minutes as he again showed few signs of the ankle injury he picked up in Austria in the run-up to Roland Garros.
"He played a lot better today than he had done before," said Hewitt who had won both the pair's previous matches.
"But I was hitting through the court well and I didn't want to waste too much energy out there, that was another positive."
Serb teenager Novak Djokovic reached his first Grand Slam fourth round knocking out German 23rd seed Tommy Haas 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) to add another big scalp to his collection having beaten ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez in the previous round.
He faces either America's James Blake, the eighth seed, or French 25th seed Gael Monfils for a place in the last eight.
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