All streaks are meant to be broken. But not for Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros.

The World No. 1 continued his march towards an unprecedented 11th title at the clay-court Grand Slam with a dominant 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 rout of longtime rival Richard Gasquet on Saturday. He advances to the Round of 16 at a major for the 40th time, becoming just the sixth player to acheive the feat in the Open Era.

With the victory, Nadal extended a pair of staggering streaks. He has now won his past 34 completed sets at Roland Garros, breaking his own personal best of 32 in a row from 2007-09. Only Bjorn Borg, who won 41 consecutive sets in 1979-81, has recorded a longer streak in Paris.

In addition, victory for Nadal saw the Spaniard notch his 16th match win against Gasquet at the tour-level. He now owns a ruthless 16-0 stranglehold on their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. It is just the seventh match-up in the Open Era in which a player has recorded as many wins without a defeat.

Most Dominant FedEx ATP Head-To-Heads (Open Era)

It was billed as one of the more highly anticipated third-round encounters on the terre battue. After all, Nadal and Gasquet have a long history that dates back to their junior days. But their pro rivalry has been one-way traffic in favour of the Spaniard, and he continued to flex his muscle on a sunny Saturday afternoon on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Nadal blasted out of the gate, claiming the first nine points and 20 of the first 22 points. Gasquet did well to snatch a break back after falling behind 0-5, rifling a backhand winner down the line. But the Frenchman had no answer for the imposing clay-court game of his opponent, constantly being put on the defensive and moved from corner to corner. There was little he could do to counter Nadal’s penetrating forehand.

The Spaniard would convert a total of six breaks during the one-hour and 58-minute affair, striking 25 winners to Gasquet’s 13. He broke Gasquet to open both the second and third sets and did not look back from there, earning his first sub-two hour win of the tournament.

Not only has Nadal won 16 consecutive matches against Gasquet, the Spaniard has not dropped a set in 10 years. That’s 28 sets won in a row. It also marked their first meeting at Roland Garros since 2005, when Nadal took another third-round match-up 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Most Grand Slam Round of 16 Appearances

Note: Active streak bold

The top seed, who turns 32 on Sunday, is now 22-1 on clay this year and 82-2 in his career at Roland Garros. He will look to give himself another birthday gift when he faces Maxmilian Marterer in Monday’s fourth round. A 12th quarter-final appearance is at stake for the Manacor native.

Marterer is enjoying his best run at a Grand Slam tournament, streaking into the Round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Jurgen Zopp in one hour and 39 minutes. The World No. 70 is guaranteed to rise to a career-high in the ATP Rankings, as he pushes towards the Top 50.

Marterer is playing the best tennis of his young career, registering his first Top 30 wins during this clay-court season. He upset Diego Schwartzman en route to his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Munich and toppled Denis Shapovalov earlier this week.

The German is one of two players from his country to reach the Round of 16, joining Alexander Zverev. It marks the first time multiple Germans have advanced as far since 2013 (Haas, Kohlschreiber).

Marterer’s victory over Zopp also signaled the end of the road for the eight lucky losers in Paris. The Estonian will hold his head high, however, reaching the third round in his first major main draw since 2014.

DID YOU KNOW?
Marterer faces a tall order against Nadal, who is a perfect 17-0 against German opponents on clay. He has lost just two sets in total – to Daniel Brands at Roland Garros in 2013 and to Alexander Zverev two weeks ago in Rome.

A lucky loser and a certain player named Rafa go for Roland Garros history, and the ‘Tower of Tandil’ will try to go where he hasn’t been since 2012: ATPWorldTour.com previews Saturday’s third-round action at Roland Garros.

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. [27] Richard Gasquet (FRA)
Nadal leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 15-0

Don’t expect Gasquet, however, to prostrate on the court during the walk-ons. The 31-year-old Frenchman will try to seize – and savour – the moment. He’s playing on Court Philippe-Chatrier against a longtime friend, and has an opportunity to earn one of the biggest wins of his career. Beat Nadal in the third round and Gasquet will have handed the Spaniard his earliest loss at Roland Garros. (Nadal withdrew before his third-round match in 2016.)

For Nadal, if he wins the opening two sets against Gasquet, the Spaniard will have won his past 33 sets in Paris and will have broken his previous longest streak of 32, set in 2007-09. Only Bjorn Borg owns a longer streak at Roland Garros: 41 consecutive sets from 1979-81.

Maximilian Marterer (GER) vs. Jurgen Zopp (EST)
First FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting

And then there was one. Eight lucky losers saw their names in the Roland Garros main draw at the start of the week, including Argentine Marco Trungelliti, who drove from Barcelona to Paris for the opportunity.

But only one has the chance to reach the fourth round. No. 136 Jurgen Zopp of Estonia faces Maximilian Marterer. The 22-year-old German is already in the Top 70 of the ATP Rankings and has a chance to post his best Grand Slam result during his Roland Garros debut by making the Round of 16. The left-hander also reached the third round at the Australian Open in January.

Zopp, however, can win one for all of the lucky losers out there. He can become only the 10^th lucky loser to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam in the Open Era and the first since France’s Stephane Robert at the 2014 Australian Open. Since April 1968, when the Open Era began 50 years ago, only four lucky losers have gone where Zopp is trying to go, but he’ll be in good company if he can make it three in a row. The most recent lucky loser to make the Roland Garros Round of 16: David Goffin, 2012.

[5] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) vs. [31] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP)
Del Potro leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 1-0

Two Frenchmen down, one Spaniard to go? Juan Martin del Potro has played the villain well so far at Roland Garros, beating Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau to make the third round. But the fan favourite Argentine should have the crowd on his side when he meets 31^st seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.

It’s been six years and three wrist surgeries since Del Potro played in the Round of 16 in June 2012. He also hasn’t won three consecutive clay-court matches since that fourth-round run.

Read More: Delpo 1, Reporter 0

To Ramos-Vinolas, the Round of 16 is old hat. The Spaniard has been there the past two years, and he hasn’t dropped a set so far this fortnight in beating Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and #NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud. The left-hander is 6-32 against Top 10 players, including 1-6 of late, according to his FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record. But that one win came just two weeks ago in Rome against American John Isner.

All eyes are on the Parisian terre battue, as the ATP World Tour’s stars slide and glide across the red clay at Roland Garros. But elsewhere, some people’s focus is completely on something else: grass. 

In just more than a week, the players will begin the grass-court swing during which six ATP World Tour events — two at the 500-level and four at the 250-level — lead into Wimbledon, with the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open held directly after the year’s third Grand Slam championship.

The Gerry Weber Open, which will take place from 16 to 24 June 2018 in Halle, Germany, is undergoing final preparations, as the crew works to prepare Gerry Weber Stadion for the wear and tear of the world’s best tennis. Roger Federer will seek his record tenth title, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev will attempt to capture his maiden grass-court trophy and other stars including Dominic Thiem and Miami winner John Isner will look to make their mark.

And while you may not think about it during the tournament, the grass is not simply rolled out like a carpet. 

Instead, forklift trucks transport 400 two-by-one-metre lawn tiles to the site to construct the 800-square-metre Centre Court. Those 800-kilogram tiles, according to the event’s Tournament Director, Ralf Weber, are the key to the tournament. A Lolium mixture helps the surface withstand the brunt of world-class play, with the seed providing a high-load capacity.

“The grass is a deciding factor for the matches at the Gerry Weber Open. Transferring the grass onto the Centre Court is one of our final preparations for the tournament,” said Weber. “The grass has reached an extraordinary standard, which has to be constantly maintained and optimized. That is why we survey our players and have a constant exchange with grass court experts at Wimbledon.”

So while the best players in the world continue to slide around on the red dirt, the grass courts are being set up for them now.

Damir Dzumhur was a class act, as always, on the court against Alexander Zverev on Friday at Roland Garros. His hospitality also extended to the ball kids who worked the third-round match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

After Zverev hit a forehand long, Dzumhur hit a forehand high into the air. The ball was set to land about midcourt on the same side of the net as the Bosnian, who jogged to catch it.

But a ball boy, from the side of the court, sprinted to the same spot. Collision. Dzumhur, a 26-year-old ATP World Tour professional, was left standing. But the ball boy lay on the red dirt.

Talk about a collision course. ?@DzumhurDamir collides with ball boy during match. #RG18 pic.twitter.com/M5xHLxMlMK

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2018

Dzumhur consoled the ball boy, and eventually, however, the ball boy walked away on his own. Dzumhur, feeling bad about the accident, left him with a hug and a kiss.

UPDATE: He’s okay! pic.twitter.com/SQXsGkr2yD

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2018