Nadal and Sharapova through at French Open

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Nadal and Sharapova through at French Open

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Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova stormed into the fourth round of the French Open in Paris.

03 June,2012 02:32 am

Rafa Nadal continued his untroubled progress towards a seventh French Open title with a 6-1 6-3 6-4 defeat of Argentine qualifier Eduardo Schwank on Saturday (June 2) to reach the last 16.Second seed Nadal, who dropped only nine games in his first two rounds at Roland Garros, was never under threat from the big Argentine doubles specialist.Schwank is ranked 192 in singles.Nadal, seeking his 11th grand slam title, will next meet either another Argentine, 13th seed Juan Monaco, or Canadian Milos Raonic, seeded 19th.First, though, he will celebrate his 26th birthday on Sunday.It was business as usual when Maria Sharapova breezed into the fourth round of the French Open by sweeping past Chinese Peng Shuai 6-2 6-1 on Saturday (June 2).Sharapovas outings have been fleeting this week as she has dropped just five games en route to the last 16, spending a total of two hours and 54 minutes on court over her three matches.On Saturday, it took her 66 minutes to subdue her 28th-seeded opponent on a sunbathed Court Phlippe Chatrier with another display of power and accuracy.Sharapova, twice a semi-finalist on Parisian clay, will next face the unseeded Czech, Klara Zakopalova.