It was yet another straight forward task for the 'King of Clay' Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros today.

The Spaniard swept Richard Gasquet aside with ease, winning 6-3 6-2 6-2 to move into the last-16 at the French Open, as he seeks his 11th title at the tournament.

Nadal was shown to be human on the surface when he lost to Dominic Thiem in straight sets at the Madrid Masters last month, ending a run of 50 consecutive sets won on clay.

It also finished his year-long unbeaten streak on it too, and had people worrying that his dominance at Roland Garros may be about to come to an end.

But he has now taken his record at the French Open to 82 wins and only two defeats, which is absolutely astonishing, and you can only see that being extended when he plays Maximilian Marterer tomorrow.

If he can go all the way again in France it will take his Grand Slam tally to 17, and in this kind of form you couldn't possibly bet against that.

Remarkably though, Nadal wasn't exactly toasting in his success over Gasquet at the end of the match.

After having a quick rally with a ball boy to the delight of the crowd, the Spaniard made a rather surprising comment to reporters.

Nadal revealed that he had actually apologised to his opponent when the match finished, and when he explained why you can see why he is so globally adored.

He described the encounter as "emotional" due to their long-standing friendship, and showed why he is widely-regarded as one of the most classy sportsmen around.

"Yeah, it's a nice experience," he started. "I said the other day Richard is a good friend and is a nice person.

"We grew up together. Lot of talks between both of us when we were kids. Now we're older, that's all.

"Yeah, [it] was a great feeling. I think was emotional thing for me to play with him here in this court.

"He just said I had played very well, and I said, ‘Well, I'm sorry. Let's continue’."

Nadal also explained why their match wasn't so close, as he commented that Gasquet has been struggling through injuries recently.

However, the 31-year-old did add that the Frenchman's luck wasn't helped by the fact he was drawn against the 10-time champion!

"Also, Richard had a back problem for a while, and so he's had quite a lot of interruptions," Nadal continued.

"As I said, he's a normal person, a good person. He's got a very natural behaviour.

"He never has any problems with anyone. He's someone I really appreciate. I'm just sorry that he had to play me again here. But that's the sport."

Comments like that are exactly why Nadal is so respected by the world of tennis.

And that respect will only go through the roof if he makes it title number 11 at Roland Garros next week.