“Always a win against Lleyton is a very good news,” said Nadal, who is trying to become the only person to win five straight French Open titles. “You must be playing well.”
Novak Djokovic reached the third round in the men’s tournament, quickly completing his suspended match by easily winning the final set and beating Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
The fourth-seeded Djokovic won the first two sets Thursday, but the match was stopped because of darkness. He broke Stakhovsky to open the third set and had little trouble the rest of the way.
“It’s not pleasant when you don’t finish a match in one day,” Djokovic said. “But I was lucky to come back and be two sets up.”
Djokovic won his only Grand Slam title at the 2008 Australian Open, but the Serb has reached at least the semifinals at all four major tournaments.
Seventh-seeded Gilles Simon of France was eliminated by No. 30 Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Hanescu won three matches in a row for the first time this year.
No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany also advanced to the third round, beating 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in another match suspended by darkness Thursday night.
No. 8 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, No. 10 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and No. 13 Marin Cilic of Croatia reached the fourth round.
Andy Murray advanced when Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia retired while trailing 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Friday.
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The third-seeded Murray has never before reached the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Last year, Murray lost in the third round. In his only other appearance at the French Open in 2006, he lost in the first round.
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