Stat of the Day: Rafael Nadal now 17-0 against Richard Gasquet

Rafael Nadal continued his path of destruction at Roland Garros on Thursday—his 35th birthday—by beating Richard Gasquet, 6-0, 7-5, 6-2, to reach the third round.

With the two-hour, 14-minute victory, Nadal improved to an incredible 17-0 in his tour-level head-to-head against Gasquet, tying the men’s Open Era record for most wins without a loss in a tour-level head-to-head:

~ Bjorn Borg: 17-0 against Vitas Gerulaitis
~ Ivan Lendl: 17-0 against Tim Mayotte
~ Roger Federer: 17-0 against David Ferrer AND Mikhail Youzhny
~ Novak Djokovic: 17-0 against Gael Monfils
~ Rafael Nadal: 17-0 against Richard Gasquet

Nadal said afterwards that despite the head-to-head, he was still as focused as ever.

“Well, of course it’s better to win 16 in a row than lose 16 in a row, no? When you go to the match and you have been winning the last 16 times, of course the confidence is a little bit higher than when you have a tougher head-to-head,” he said.

“Being honest, no, I respect, I know how good is Richard. I know he’s coming back after a tough period of time. I think he played smart, playing aggressive. I don’t know, I just went on court with the highest respect, with the highest focus possible.

"That’s what I try to do every day against everyone.”

Nadal hasn’t just won their last 17 meetings now, he’s also won their last 31 sets in a row.