Nadal shrugs off rare dropped set as Federer becomes oldest fourth- round entrant for 47 years

Rafael Nadal played down the significance of his earliest dropped set at the French Open for six years after battling past David Goffin and into the fourth round.

Nadal, right, tore through the opening two sets against 27th seed Goffin but the Belgian fought back to take the third before the Spaniard completed a 6- 1, 6- 3, 4- 6, 6- 3 victory.

Such had been Nadal’s domi nance t hat even a l ost set seems significant, but the man himself shrugged it off. “It happens,” he said. “David is a great player.

“I played against a top player that had injuries, and he’s a little bit lower in the ranking now, but when he’s playing well, he’s a player that already showed to everybody that he can win against every player in this world.”

Nadal next plays Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Londero, who defeated Corentin Moutet i n f ive sets to continue his impressive run at his debut grand slam.

Roger Federer also did not have things entirely his own way as he fought off the challenge of young

Nor wegian Casper Ruud.

The t hird seed i s yet to drop a set on his return to Roland Garros but was pushed hard in the third by his 20- year- old opponent before completing a 6- 3, 6- 1, 7- 6 ( 8) victory.

Federer i s the oldest man to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros since Nico - la Pietrangeli in 1972, and the oldest at any slam since Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open.

He and Nadal, meanw h i l e , h a v e n o w reached the last 16 here 14 t i mes each, an alltime record. Federer was happy to have had a bit of a test, saying: “I still don’t know exactly where my absolute best is but I feel like it could be there. Maybe not. I’m happy to find out.”

There were tears all around on Court Simmone Mathieu after Leonardo Mayer defeated Nicolas Mahut in four sets to book a meeting with Federer. Mahut’s run as a wild card has been one of the stories of the tournament and Mayer was crying, too, as the 37- yearold was consoled by his sevenyear- old son Natanel.

“I was really emotional to see him on the court,” said Mahut of his boy. “Normally he’s the one who is cr ying, and I’m comforting him and today was the contrary. I don’t know if it was my last match at Roland Garros but if it was the case, I finished Roland Garros in a beautiful way.”

Seventh seed Kei Nishikori improved his Open era- best record in deciding sets with a 6- 4, 6- 7 ( 6), 6- 3, 4- 6, 8- 6 victory over Laslo Djere and next faces France’s Benoit Paire, who benefited from Pablo Carreno Busta’s retirement with a thigh injury.