Fri May 30 10:12:35 2008

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Nadal wins again at French Open

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Paris, France (Sports Network) - Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal continued his amazing success on the famed red clay of Roland Garros with a straight-set victory Friday in third-round action at the French Open.

Nadal, playing for the third time in as many days because of rain earlier in the week, polished off Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 rout. The second-seeded Spaniard is trying for a record-tying fourth straight French Open crown and improved his record to 24-0 all-time in the Paris slam.

In his first three matches, Nadal has yet to drop a set and has lost only 19 games. He also improved to an astounding 111-2 in his last 113 clay-court matches since 2005.

Two second-round matches were completed on Friday, as France's Florent Serra disposed of Romania's Victor Hanescu in four sets and Frenchman Julien Benneteau completed a five-set triumph over Colombia's Alejandro Falla.

One other early third-round match Friday saw Latvia's Ernests Gulbis cruise to a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti. Gulbis was coming off a stunning upset of seventh-seeded American James Blake in the second round on Thursday.