Rafael Nadal reached another impressive milestone in his illustrious career on Saturday in Paris, advancing to the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the 50th time.
The 13-time Roland Garros champion defeated Briton Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Round of 16 at the clay-court major. Nadal joins Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as only the third player to make it this far at a Slam 50 times.
Most Grand Slam R16 Appearances (all-time)
| Player | No. of Appearances |
| 1) Roger Federer | 68 |
| 2) Novak Djokovic | 54 |
| 3) Rafael Nadal | 50 |
| 4) Jimmy Connors | 43 |
| T5) Andre Agassi | 42 |
| T5) Ivan Lendl | 42 |
"Today I had in front [of me] a player [who is] having a great season," Nadal said. "I went on court knowing that could be a tough match, and for moments [it was] like this. I'm happy to win in straight sets. I think I did what I had to do. For moments, I played well. I think [I played] a good first set. Then for moments I need to do things better, but I am confident that I can do it."
The 35-year-old is now 103-2 at this tournament, and he will play 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner for a spot in the quarter-finals. Last year on the terre battue, Nadal defeated Sinner in a tough three-setter in the last eight.
"You can't expect an easy opponent out there. Jannik is not the best fourth round. Without a doubt, he's a dangerous one," Nadal said. "He's young. He's a great player. We know each other well, so let's see. I need to be ready to play at a very high level of tennis to have chances to be in the quarter-finals, and I'm going to fight for it."
Nadal had already played Norrie twice this season without losing a set, and the Spaniard now leads their ATP Head2Head series 3-0 after a comprehensive performance in which he struck 34 winners and broke serve six times. The third seed has won 20 consecutive matches against fellow lefties.
"I don't think I [was] returning unbelievable today," Nadal said. "I just returned okay. But then I was solid from the baseline to put one more ball in and to make him play."
That does not mean that facing Norrie was not a difficult test. The 25-year-old is third on the ATP Tour with 26 tour-level victories this season and he reached two finals on clay (Estoril, Lyon). Despite knowing how difficult it would be to defeat Nadal in Paris, Norrie walked on Court Suzanne-Lenglen with confidence.
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The problem was that he did not have the weapons to consistently put the 20-time Slam champion into difficulty. Nadal won 78 per cent of his first-serve points and only faced three break points in the match.
Norrie was opportunistic, breaking Nadal’s serve twice. And the former Texas Christian University star battled hard, pumping himself up until the end with big shouts of “come on!” But the legendary lefty had too much for the Briton, advancing after two hours and seven minutes.
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