Paris: Defending champion Rafael Nadal, has made it to the last 16 of the French Open by beating Italian, Fabio Fognini 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday. He will now be taking on the Japan's Kei Nishikori on Monday.

Nadal had a bit rough start in the first set but he managed it well to win it in the tie-breaker. At times, Nadal was looking quite slow as he had some tough fight against Italian. But after getting bogged down in first couple of games, he bounced back to win it by 7-5.

Fogini did give him tough time in the beginning of the second set but he missed his chances of converting couple of break points which allowed Rafael to wrap up the second set by 6-4.

Though Nadal took a 5-1 lead in the third set, the Italian won the next three sets to make it 5-4. But the King-of-clay court had the last laugh as he won the final set by 6-4.

Nadal will face Nishikori who made it to the last 16 by defeating Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-1. He became the first Japanase man to reach the last 16 at Roland Garros in 75 years.

Meanwhile, World Number 1, Novak Djokovic reached the last 16 at the French Open on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Djokovic will face either Victor Hanescu of Romania or Phillipp Kohlschreiber of Germany for a place in the quarter-finals.