Spanish ace Rafael Nadal reached the latest milestone in his legendary career on Wednesday by earning his 300th Grand Slam match victory.
Spanish ace Rafael Nadal produced another spectacular show on Wednesday to secure his 300th Grand Slam match win, dismantling local hope Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 Court Philippe Chatrier to seal his berth in the third round of the French Open 2022.
With this victory, the 13-time Roland Garros champion became just the third man to reach the 300-wins mark at the Grand Slams, behind only Swiss master Roger Federer's 369 wins and World No.1 Novak Djokovic's 324.
The Spaniard, who turns 36 next week, will meet Dutch 26th seed Botic van de Zandschulp with a potential quarter-final looming against the defending champion Djokovic, who defeated Nadal in last year's semi-finals.
"I'm happy I am through in three sets, that's an important fact for me, and that gives me the chance to keep working tomorrow and try to be ready for after tomorrow against a tough opponent. So let's see. I am happy about a lot of things that I did tonight, so let's try to keep going and keep improving tomorrow," Nadal said following the win.
The 23-year-old Moutet enjoyed crowd support in the matchup against his childhood idol but could not stop Nadal from improving to 10-0 against Frenchmen at Roland Garros, including a 30-2 record in sets. Nadal is 96-13 against French opposition, including 16 straight wins.
"I think the crowd was very nice to me too. I didn't feel the crowd against me at all. I think it was 50-50 and it was supporting good tennis. I always enjoy good support here in Paris," the 21-time Grand Slam champion said of the Chatrier environment.
"I think the people here know how special this place is for me and how important and how much respect I always had for Roland Garros. I think they appreciate all the things I did in this event, so I feel a lot of love from the people here," Nadal concluded.