By Chris Oddo                      Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman/ Getty

(June 4, 2012)—Rafael Nadal pushed his French Open record to 49-1 on a chilly, grey afternoon in Paris with a dominating 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 victory over Juan Monaco. The win ties Nadal with Bjorn Borg in all-time French Open wins, but if all goes as planned this week, Nadal will own that and another of the legendary Swede’s records on Sunday.

 

With Nadal gaining steam each round, and Djokovic and Federer struggling to advance, a record-smashing seventh French Open title for the imperious Spaniard is starting to feel like a sure thing.

In other words, he's in destruction mode.
 

Nadal brushed aside what was supposed to be his sternest test of the tournament with stunning ease in slow conditions today.
 

Thirteenth-seeded Monaco seemed to begin with hopes of competing today—he held serve twice to start—but as the match wore on, Nadal’s stranglehold grew tighter. Eventually, Monaco lost hope against the daunting specter on the other side of the net. .

In Monaco's defense: it happens to the best of them.
 

Nadal hit on 8 of 10 break points and upped his first serve percentage--which has been at or below 60 percent in two of his three matches at the French--to 69 percent.
 

When it was all said and done, the 106-minute mash-up probably didn't give Nadal his recommended daily dosage of cardio. The 26-year-old 10-time Grand Slam champion is likely to be fine with that. His tidy stat line of 13 unforced errors and 23 winners ought to please him as well.

Spaniards Conquering Clay

David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro, the second and third-ranked Spaniards in the world, are also gaining in confidence.

Ferrer reached his third French Open quarterfinal Monday when he soundly defeated Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Almagro also reached his third French Open quarterfinal when he got past Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. 

Almagro will face Nadal in the quarterfinals, while Ferrer will face Andy Murray.

Murray Is Badder than a Bad Back

Andy Murray dropped the first set to Richard Gasquet today, then swiftly rebounded to advance 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. The British No. 1 reached his sixth consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal with the win. Murray has come back from a set down in two matches at Roland Garros this year. In the second round he nearly had to retire due to severe back spasms that limited him to 60 mph serves at times.

Somehow, Murray recovered.

The back, however, is still not perfect. Murray alluded to that today in a post-match interview: "It's a bit stiff, actually," said Murray. "The court conditions obviously aren't the best for it. When I'm able to dictate the points it's a lot easier on my body so I'll try to do that in the next round."

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro each finished up a match suspended from yesterday to reach the quarters. Tsonga gave up an early break, then quickly finished off Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6(6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Tsonga will play world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Del Potro took the fourth set to eliminate Tomas Berdych from the draw in a battle of former French Open semifinalists, 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3, 7-5. Del Potro, playing with bandaged knee yet still looking very nimble, will face Roger Federer next.

Click here for the official French Open Men's Singles draw.