Rafael Nadal defeats Richard Gasquet on his 35th birthday at Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal advanced past Richard Gasquet in a match that went tougher than expected especially after a first set bagel.

Rafael Nadal advanced at the Roland Garros after defeating Richard Gasquet 6-0 7-5 6-3. The Spaniard came out furious completely smashing Gasquet in a very one-sided set where the Frenchman simply had no answer. Nadal hit 10 winners while Gasquet only had 9 and that proved more than enough. It was 6-0 after only 26 minutes. The 2nd set featured a much better battle where Gasquet competed fairly well.

The Frenchman was able to limit the mistakes and force Nadal to play for every point. It did not work completely as Nadal took the break midway through the set and even had a set point at 5-3 but Gasquet saved it. Nadal then served for the set but got broken after several bad misses.

In the end, Gasquet could not complete the comeback as Nadal closed it out with 7-5. The set was a tough one for Nadal and lasted well over an hour. In the 3rd set, Gasquet was starting to feel fatigued and it became apparent in his game. Nadal was applying more and more pressure and after initially absorbing it Gasquet faltered.

At 3-2, Nadal finally broke him to take a 4-2 lead and he then confirmed the break 5-2. Nadal finished it off with a 6-2 final set victory moving on to R3 of the French Open.