Nadal demolishes Monaco at Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal raced into the French Open quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 demolition over Juan Monaco.

Nadal will next play Nicolas Almagro.

Rafa took his career record in Paris to 49-1 while Monaco, who went into Monday's match with solid claycourt form under his belt having captured titles in Vina del Mar and Houston this year, lost all three previous clay meetings against Nadal, claiming just 10 games in the process.

Monaco came out with all guns blazing but quickly hit the Rafa wall, with the Spaniard ending his opponent's ordeal after one hour and 46 minutes on his first match point.

''I feel really comfortable, really at ease,'' said Nadal. ''When the tournament is over, I'll tell you if this was my best Roland Garros or not. For the time being, I'm still playing. So far, so good. But we'll see. Things could change.''

He trailed 2-1 at the start against Monaco, one of Nadal's best friends on tour, before reeling off the last 17 games in a row.

''I feel very, very sorry for him,'' Nadal said.

Against Monaco, Nadal faced two break points and saved them both.

He broke Monaco eight times and made only 13 unforced errors. That raised his total for the tournament to 64 - or 13 fewer than No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic made in his fourth-round match alone.

''When you reach quarterfinals with my results, that's always something positive, that's true. ... I have won quite easily. My results are good,'' Nadal said. ''But I'm not going to go through immediately (to) the semifinals.''