Rafael Nadal gave another claycourt masterclass as he passed his first genuine test of this year's French Open with flying colours to progress untroubled into the quarter-finals.

The Spaniard, seeking a third straight Roland Garros title, surged past Lleyton Hewitt 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7-5) to seal a last-eight showdown with fellow Spaniard and close friend Carlos Moya.

After run-of-the-mill victories in his opening three rounds, in which he did not drop a set, Nadal was expected to be given a real examination by the grizzled and gutsy Hewitt.

Indeed, the Australian had run the world number two close at last month's Masters event in Hamburg, Nadal recovering from going a set down in the semi-final to eventually edge home.

But an anticipated epic failed to materialise as a disappointing Hewitt struggled to cope with Nadal's power and amazing court coverage.

The Spaniard felt he produced the goods when he really needed to.

He said: ''I played ten times better than I did in my last round (against Albert Montanes).

''It was my best match of the tournament, and I am happy with my game.

''It is nice to be in the quarter-finals and nice to be playing against one of my best friends.''

Nadal, who was never in top gear against Hewitt, breezed through the first two sets, with Hewitt lacking the power to finish off any of the few promising situations he found himself in.

The third set was more even, Hewitt finally finding parity against the king of clay, and the first ten games went with serve.

The next two were broken though, sending the set into a tie-break.

The Australian started it well, going 2-0, 4-2 and then 5-4 ahead.

But he crashed a basic, mid-range forehand into the net to make it 5-5 and did exactly the same on two points later when serving to stay in the match.

Hewitt believes Nadal will go on to claim a third title, adding: ''I think the conditions here suit him well.''

Nadal remains on course to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 - and just the second man in 93 years - to win three successive Roland Garros titles.

His next obstacle is Moya, whose quest for a second French Open crown continued unabated thanks to a straight-sets victory over veteran Jonas Bjorkman.

The 23rd seed, the champion here in 1998, grabbed a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 7-5 victory in two hours 38 minutes on the first match on Suzanne Lenglen court.

The Spaniard's greater claycourt nous did for doubles-specialist Bjorkman, who at 35 was the oldest player to reach the last 16 in the men's singles.