El Dorado News-Times

Nadal advances at French Open.

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PARIS (AP) — Another French Open victory, and more career milestones for Rafael Nadal.

With a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (4) win on Monday against up-and-coming German player Maximilian Marterer, Nadal moved into the quarterfin­als and above Jimmy Connors on the all-time list of match-winners at majors.

Connors won 233. Nadal has 234.

Just Novak Djokovic, with 244 Grand Slam wins, and Roger Federer, with 332, are ahead of him.

But in his chase for a record-extending 11th title at Roland Garros, the only numbers Nadal seems to be keeping close track of are those up on the scoreboard. It had, for example, seemingly escaped him that in beating Marterer, a 22-year-old with a promising game, Nadal also notched up his 900th career win on tour.

Although such numbers might not be foremost in Nadal's mind, they are gauges to the impressive longevity and winning consistenc­y of the Spaniard who turned 32 on Sunday.

"I don't feel myself old. But I am 32, and I am here around since 2003, so it's a long way, a lot of years. I started very young," he said. "Being honest, I am enjoying the day by day on the tour and I hope to keep doing this for a while."

Nadal's next opponent, Diego Schwartzma­n of Argentina, will be playing his first Roland Garros quarterfin­al. It will be Nadal's 12th.

The only other player with that many in the profession­al era is Djokovic, who plays his 12th quarterfin­al against Marco Cecchinato of Italy.

Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic, both former U.S. Open champions, completed the quarterfin­al lineup with wins.

Cilic, runner-up at the Australian Open in January, was up two sets and seemingly cruising against Fabio Fognini before the hard-to-dislodge Italian took the next two sets, saving a match point along the way. The third-seeded Cilic ultimately prevailed 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

"Just a crazy match," said the Croatian, a quarterfin­alist last year, too.

"It was just hanging by a thread. A couple of points decided it."

Del Potro, Cilic's next opponent, had a more straightfo­rward 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win against big-serving John Isner, who served 12 aces but fell short of becoming the first American man to reach the quarterfin­als since Andre Agassi in 2003, despite hopeful chants of "U-S-A!, U-S-A!" from the crowd.

"I was outplayed by a large margin," Isner said. "I would have liked to maybe put up a better fight."

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