Rafael Nadal believes his straight set demolition of Bellucci was the best he has played in the tournament. Opponents better watch out now

Best match of my tournament so far: Nadal

Rafael Nadal believes his straight set demolition of Bellucci was the best he has played in the tournament. Opponents betteru00a0watch out now

Rafael Nadal serves during his 6-2 7-5 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci in the fourth round of the French Open yesterday. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Four-time champion Nadal was stunned by an inspired Robin Soderling in round four 12 months ago, but despite a defiant display on Philippe Chatrier Court yesterday, young Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci was unable to repeat the feat.

Such was Nadal's dominance yesterday that at no point did the Spaniard looked in any kind of trouble.

Despite creating a similar number of break points as his illustrious opponent, 24th seed Bellucci was ultimately beaten in straight sets, 6-2 7-5 6-4. Nadal set up a last-eight clash with Nicolas Almagro, who was impressive in his 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over seventh seed Fernando Verdasco.

"Bellucci is a very good player, especially on clay. He has a good serve, a good forehand, and a good backhand, too. Every match is difficult in the fourth round of a Grand Slam. At Roland Garros, every match can be very difficult. But today, I played my best match in the tournament so far," Nadal said after the win.

"I knew he was a very tough opponent. It was a very important match for me. I succeeded because I managed to play better than I have. I could shoot into the balls the way I wanted to with both my backhands and the forehands," he said.

"Earlier, my shots were a bit too short. I wanted to have longer and deeper shots. I wanted to improve this.

Sometimes, the opponent could take this opportunity to dominate the game. It's better to have deeper balls dominate the game. I think I served better today than any other day, and I'm very satisfied because I think I've improved. I've not yet dropped a set as well. The most important thing is that I won my match," he added.
For Nadal, expected to win the title every time he plays here, a quarter-final match should ideally be a cakewalk. But after the loss in the fourth round last year, he's not going to take anything for granted.

"My objectives are still very high and very demanding. All matches are complicated. All players are difficult to play against. It's very important for me considering what's happened to me in the past months.

"I couldn't win last year, and it was very difficult to deal with that. For 11 months now, I've not really won that many matches. I know what it means to win a tournament," he said.

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