Defending champion Rafael Nadal cruised through to the fourth round of the French Open after beating Lleyton Hewitt 6-1 6-3 6-1.
Hewitt, a former world number one, had no answer for Nadal's powerful groundstrokes and ability to create something from nothing.
Things started badly for the Australian when Nadal came back from 40-15 down to break his first service game, and from there the Spaniard gathered momentum to race into a 5-1 lead.
A rare Nadal unforced error gave Hewitt break point in the seventh game, but he wasted the opportunity with another inaccurate forehand and Nadal made the most of the let-off to see out the first set.
The Spaniard broke Hewitt in the first game of the second set, hitting a sublime cross-court forehand winner en route, but Hewitt found some rhythm and stayed in the set until 3-3.
Thereafter Nadal won six games on the spin to take the second set and go 3-0 up in the third, but his run was halted by Hewitt battling to hold serve to make it 3-1.
That only delayed the inevitable, though, as Nadal produced a number of powerful winners to clinch the match.
Nadal will next play the either David Ferrer or Robin Soderling.
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