Nadal sets up Söderling rematch

Rafa Nadal stormed into the French Open quarterfinals on Monday afternoon, defeating Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets in a rematch of the 2006 semifinal between the two players. After an uncertain start during which the defending champion committed 12 unforced errors - half of his total for the entire match - world number 37 Ljubicic was two points away from clinching the first set. Nadal, who has been far from his imposing best at the tournament so far, later found his rhythm to close out the match 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in just under two and a half hours.

The world number one has found his fiefdom of Roland Garros teeming with errant knaves this year, dropping two sets in the first round to John Isner and struggling to break down the challenge of Pablo Andújar in his second match. He was afforded a brief respite in round three against qualifier and world number 227 Antonio Veic, a mismatch that permitted him to chalk up the sort of result that litters his match record at the French Open - a straight sets victory for the loss of just four games.

The five-time champion holds a 42-1 record at the season's second Grand Slam and until this year he had not dropped a set before the third round. In triumphing at last year's tournament, Nadal did not concede a single set over seven matches.

Nadal has found his right-hand side under increasing scrutiny this year, the view that it is the one susceptible area of the Spaniard's game pervading the Tour. Novak Djokovic exploited it mercilessly in Madrid and Roma and several players have sought gains from pummeling Nadal with cross-court backhands and inside-out forehands.

It is an area the world number one has been concentrating on in practice sessions, enlisting doubles partner Marc López to pound that area of the court repeatedly. Ljubicic, world number four during that 2006 semifinal, is today a veteran and hardly equipped to go toe-to-toe with a player of Nadal's physique - and one seven years younger - over three sets, let alone five.

But the Spaniard now faces Robin Söderling, the only man to have beaten Nadal in Paris - in the fourth round in 2009 - doing so by propagating the right-side theory. If Nadal is to match Söderling's countryman Björn Borg as the second player to win six French Open titles, he will need to put in a performance like that he gave in last year's final when he did not allow Söderling a single service break. Nadal described the match as "the most complicated test" of the tournament so far. "Either I play well or it's back to Mallorca or to Queen's. These games are difficult, I will have to play well to have my chances," he said.

Gaël Monfils, the final hope for the Paris crowd to toast a French champion for the first time since Yannick Noah in 1983, is certainly doing that. A player who oozes natural talent and generates incredible power from the briefest of backswings, Monfils is also notoriously fragile physically and mentally; the exact opposite of his fourth-round opponent David Ferrer, whose off-season training regime would make a heavyweight boxer weep.

Monfils, though, was inspired in victory over the Spanish seventh seed on Monday, in a game carried over from Sunday night when darkness fell on the City of Light. Down two sets but with a 2-0 advantage in the fourth, Ferrer raced to 6-1 as play resumed to silence the voracious Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd. But the Frenchman was not to be denied and far from collapsing under a torrent of Gallic self-remonstration, Monfils eased ahead to 5-2 in the final set with a blend of thunderous serving, blistering forehands and deft drop shots.

But as is always the case with Monfils, there were spills to match the thrills. Two match points at 5-3 went begging as Ferrer dug in his heels and the Spaniard reeled off the next three games to assume a 6-5 lead. Monfils brought the crowd to its feet with a forehand winner to save match point. Momentum swung back and forth until the ninth seed finally sealed victory by breaking Ferrer to love for a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6 win. Monfils plays Roger Federer in the last eight.