Nadal makes Hewitt look ordinary

PARIS – Rafael Nadal managed to make Lleyton Hewitt, the guy who gets to every ball, a bit of a bystander.

Nadal made Hewitt, as fierce a competitor as there is, go quietly. For two sets in the French Open’s fourth round Monday, Nadal made Hewitt, a past champion at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, look more like a guy making his Grand Slam debut.

Playing as well as he has at the tournament he’s dominated lately, Nadal improved to 18-0 at Roland Garros and moved closer to a third consecutive French Open title by beating Hewitt 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (5) for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“Early on, he was sort of on his own,” Hewitt acknowledged. “It was hard for me to press or do anything against him.”

Nadal’s take on his performance?

“Perfect play,” said the No. 2-seeded Spaniard, who leads the tour in wins (40) and titles (four) in 2007. “Ten times better today than the last days, no?”

Next up: a quarterfinal Wednesday against friend, mentor and countryman Carlos Moya. Moya, the 1998 French Open champion, got past Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-5.

Nadal insisted he’s not thinking toward a possible rematch in the final against No. 1 Roger Federer, the man who ended his record 81-match winning streak on clay at the Hamburg Masters final last month.

Before that, Nadal hadn’t lost on the slow surface since an April 2005 match against Igor Andreev.

“It’s not enough,” said Andreev, who knocked off No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4. “I feel like I can do something more here.”

His opponent Wednesday will be No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (1) winner over Fernando Verdasco.

The two other men’s quarterfinals are today, when 10-time major champion Federer faces No. 9 Tommy Robredo, and No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko meets No. 19 Guillermo Canas. Today’s schedule also includes all of the women’s quarterfinals, highlighted by Justine Henin against Serena Williams in a matchup between players who own a total of 13 Grand Slam titles.