Weary Nadal sees off Hewitt in tough battle

DEFENDING champion Rafael Nadal admits he is feeling the strain of playing too much tennis in recent days after advancing to the quarter-finals of the French Open.

The 20-year-old Spaniard, and the second seed in Paris, dispatched former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-2 5-7 6-4 6-2 in three hours and 17 minutes in their fourth-round clash.

Nadal, who beat Argentinian Mariano Puerta in last year’s final, has now won a total of 57 consecutive matches on clay after claiming titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome this season.

But having played for more than eight hours in his last two encounters, Nadal is now keen to take a short break before his last-eight contest with unseeded Serbo-Montenegrin talent Novak Djokovic tomorrow.

“I have been playing a lot of hours recently so I need to recover now,” said Nadal.

Yet Nadal, who dropped a set against Paul-Henri Mathieu in the previous round, was satisfied with his performance overall.

Hewitt was also happy with his efforts at Roland Garros, having almost pulled out of the tournament with an ankle injury 10 days ago.

“When I look back on it in a couple of days I am sure there’s going to be a lot of positives,” the Australian said.

For fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic, a place in the quarter-finals was nothing less than he expected after overcoming Spain’s Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2.

“Until the age of 18 I never played on anything else but clay, that’s why I am comfortable on that surface,” said the Croatian, who helped his country win the 2005 Davis Cup before reaching the last eight of the Australian Open in January.

“I am not surprised about progressing to the quarter-finals. This result is where I belong.”

He will now meet unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who will make his first-ever appearance in the quarter-finals of a grand slam event following his swift win over Spain’s Alberto Martin.

Martin was forced to retire after just 28 minutes of play because of a back injury.

Meanwhile, Martina Hingis took another step towards a glorious comeback to the women’s tour by advancing to the last eight.

Hingis started the day level at one-set all with Israel’s Shaher Peer but summoned all her experience to complete a 6-3 2-6 6-3 victory and set up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash with Kim Clijsters.

The 25-year-old Swiss admitted bad light on Sunday came at just the right time.

Hingis is a former world number one and won five grand slam titles between 1997 and 1999, although she was never successful at the French Open. She retired due to foot and ankle injuries in 2002 before launching a comeback at the start of the current season.

Her return stepped up a gear when she won the Italian Open in the build-up to Roland

Garros. A clash with Clijsters will certainly test her championship credentials.