Rafael Nadal overcame difficulties with a blistered right foot to complete a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 over Jarkko Nieminen, the Finnish 26th seed, and reach the last 16 of the French Open

The Spaniard, who was bidding to join Bjorn Borg as the only man to win four successive titles, looked as if he was about to pay a heavy price for a gruelling Roland Garros schedule which has seen him play four days in a row.

The Spaniard, who has now won all of his 24 matches at the event, had to play on Tuesday and Wednesday to eventually see off Thomaz Bellucci as torrential rain earlier in the week played havoc with the schedule. He was then back on court on Thursday to see off French qualifier Nicolas Devilder.

After cruising through the first two sets against Nieminen, Nadal required a lengthy medical time-out to have his blistered right foot treated and dressed. It brought back painful memories of his Rome Masters second round exit where the injury played a large part in his defeat to Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Nadal still cruised to victory in under two hours on the back of two breaks of serve in the third set against Nieminen, the man who brought Andre Agassi's French Open career to an end in 2005. He will now face either fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco or Mikhail Youzhny, the Russian 15th, seed for a place in the quarter-finals.