(May 31, 2014) Rafael Nadal has equaled his own record at the French Open. The world No. 1 now has a second 31-match winning streak at the clay court major event. Nadal is into the Roland Garros round of 16 with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 65 Leonardo Mayer.

His last win streak at Roland Garros was snapped in 2009 by Robin Soderling in the round of 16, his only loss in Paris. The Spaniard will try to extend his streak to 32 when he takes on Serbian Dusan Lajovic in the fourth round.

Lajovic beat Jack Sock of the United States 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.

Nadal admitted that he has had a back problem. “Yes, I felt a little bit my back, so that’s why I slow down a little bit the serve,” he said in press. “I felt a little bit from the beginning. In the second match I was not serving that fast, too.”

“I had the problem in Australia. It’s real. That’s the real thing. But hopefully not. Hopefully not. But, you know, during my career I had few problems, so always can happen things. Hopefully will not be this case.”

Nadal leads the men’s tour with 37-6 match record. He is seeking his 9th French open title.

In other men’s matches, Gael Monfils had his hometown crowd behind him when he rallied for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 win over Fabio Fognini to reach the round of 16 for fifth time.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez held off a comeback attempt by Donald Young to win 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4.

Two matches were suspended due to darkness – No. 7 Andy Murray and  Philipp Kohlschreiber was called at 7-all in the fifth set, while Fernando Verdasco was leading Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 2-2.