Rafael Nadal beats Jack Sock to reach quarter-finals

Rafael Nadal set up a mouth-watering quarter-final against Novak Djokovic by winning his 70th French Open match, but only after fending off a brave fightback from Jack Sock in a 6-3 6-1 5-7 6-2 victory.

Nadal, a nine-time champion at Roland Garros, steamrollered Sock - playing a grand slam last-16 match for the first time - in the opening two sets.

However, the sixth seed hit 13 unforced errors in a wasteful third set, and failed to serve for the match at 5-4 as a resilient Sock reeled off three straight games to become the first man to take a set off Nadal this tournament.

An appreciative Suzanne-Lenglen Court voiced their approval at the prospect of a fourth set, but any hopes of a fifth were quickly evaporated as Nadal recovered his composure to take his phenomenal Roland Garros record to 70-1.

The sixth seed will now face world number one Djokovic, who beat Richard Gasquet on Philippe Chatrier, in a repeat of last year's final, which he won in four sets.

Nadal broke in the first game when Sock netted a simple backhand, and he quickly had a double-break 3-0 lead when Sock put a forehand into the net.

Sock has proved to be no pushover having beaten the likes of Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric to reach the last 16, and he displayed his battling qualities to earn a break back when Nadal missed the line with a cross-court shot.

It proved a brief reprieve. When serving to stay in the opener, Sock's power saw him save three set-points, but there was nothing he could do to prevent the fourth as Nadal rifled a forehand out of his reach.

The American had shown glimpses of his talent in the first hour, but quickly unravelled in a second set that Nadal tied up in just 32 minutes having hit just one unforced error. Sock avoided the whitewash when he fended off two set-points to hold in game six, but Nadal served out for a two-set lead.

Sock was in danger twice in the third set having been broken in games five and seven, only to fight back on both occasions.

Better was to come as he brought up two set points when leading 6-5 and he needed just one as a series of forehands down the right eventually left Nadal with no answer.

Nadal recovered from the setback to earn an early break and that soon turned into a double-break 5-2 lead thanks to unforced Sock error.

And this time the Spaniard served out to 15 when his opponent put a forehand in the net.