FRENCH OPEN: Brilliant Nadal, Djokovic through to Q’final

*Defending Champion, Muguruza, Venus Williams crash out

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Rafael Nadal Sunday continued his superb form with a dominant 6-1 6-2 6-2 win over Roberto Bautista Agut to move easily into the French Open quarter-finals.
The Spaniard, 31, is looking to become the first man to win 10 titles at a single Grand Slam event.
Similarly, second seed Novak Djokovic remains on course to face Nadal in the semi-finals after a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-3 win against 19th seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Nadal’s victory was not quite as simple as Friday’s incredible 6-0 6-1 6-0 defeat of Nikoloz Basilashvili but fourth seed has not dropped a set yet.
He will face another Spaniard, Pablo Carreno Busta, in the last eight.
Carreno Busta, 25, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final with a 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 8-6 win over Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic.
Carreno Busta, seeded 20th, failed to convert six match points in the deciding set before eventually grinding down last year’s Wimbledon runner-up.
And a first career win against a top-10 ranked opponent will be rewarded with a meeting against nine-time champion Nadal.
Earlier, women’s defending champion, Garbine Muguruza, and seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams crash out of the French Open, meaning a new major singles champion will be crowned at Roland Garros.
Spanish fourth seed Muguruza, 23, lost 6-1 3-6 6-3 to home favourite Kristina Mladenovic.
American Williams, the 2002 champion, was beaten 5-7 6-2 6-1 by Swiss 30th seed Timea Bacsinszky.
Their last-16 defeats mean only three of the top 10 seeds remain in the draw.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova, third seed Simona Halep and fifth seed Elina Svitolina will aim to reach the quarter-finals when they play their fourth-round matches today.
Pliskova and Svitolina won their rain-delayed third-round matches on Sunday, while former world number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the last eight.
Muguruza won only 15 points in the first set and, although she rallied to take it to a third, could not match French 13th seed Mladenovic.
Mladenovic, who served 16 double faults, was tearful in a post-match interview on a Suzanne Lenglen Court which offered passionate support throughout.
Mladenovic, 24, will face 2015 semi-finalist Bacsinzky in the quarter-finals.
No French woman has won the title since Mary Pierce in 2000.
Williams, the 10th seed, fought back from 5-1 down to take the opening set against Bacsinzky.
But 27-year-old Bacsinzky broke Williams’ serve in the first game of the second set as she won 12 of the last 15 games of the match.
Dane Wozniacki, 26, reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2010 with a 6-1 4-6 6-2 win over Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, the eighth seed and 2009 champion.
Pliskova, the Czech, beat Carina Witthoft of Germany 7-5 6-1, while Svitolina of Ukraine overcame Poland’s Magda Linette 6-4 7-5.

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