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.
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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.
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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.
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"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.
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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.
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"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.
