Images: Nadal, Murray storm into fourth round, Li advances

Five-times champion Rafa Nadal was his old merciless self as he silenced Croatian qualifier Antonio Veic 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to book his place in the fourth round of the French Open on Saturday.

The Spanish number one allowed only seven points to his opponent in the opening set despite struggling on his first serve.

Nadal, who now has a 41-1 record at Roland Garros although he laboured through his first two matches this year, ran into a spot of bother in the second set, conceding a couple of breaks.

However, a series of bludgeoning forehands floored world number 227 Veic, who beat twice French Open semi-finalist Nikolay Davydenko in the previous round, in a 25-minute second set.

Nadal will now meet either Croatian Ivan Ljubicic or Spanish 16th seed Fernando Verdasco for a place in the last eight.

World number four Andy Murray limped past German Michael Berrer 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the third round of the French Open on Saturday after sustaining an ankle injury.

The Briton twisted his right ankle at the beginning of the second set but overcame the pain and was barely tested by an innocuous opponent.

Murray gritted his teeth and prevailed when Berrer sent a forehand wide after two hours seven minutes.

He will next face Serbian 15th seed Victor Troicki, who beat Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

China's lightning-quick Li Na wrapped up a third-round French Open victory over Romanian Sorana Cirstea before most of the fans had arrived on a jam-packed Saturday at Roland Garros.

Queues were still forming on the streets when sixth seed Li, the Australian Open runnerup, sealed a confident 6-2, 6-2 win on a quarter-full Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Organisers will be happy with Li's speedy work given an elongated programme on the second main court after Novak Djokovic's third-round tie with Juan Martin Del Potro was halted by bad light on Friday and returns as the third match at 6-3, 3-6.

Over on Court Philippe Chatrier down the tree and boutique-lined way, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus easily got the better of Italy's Roberta Vinci with a 6-3, 6-2 win, which further highlighted her strong title credentials.

With tops seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters crashing out and several players missing with injury, any woman left could realistically triumph in next Saturday's final and Azarenka has continued her good form from the buildup events.

Switzerland's Patty Schnyder is retiring from tennis with immediate effect because of a desire to pursue other interests, the emotional 32-year-old told a news conference on Saturday.

The world number 55, whose best showing in a grand slam was reaching the last four at the 2004 Australian Open, lost in the French Open first round on Tuesday to Romania's Sorana Cirstea.