Lleyton Hewitt bid "au revoir" to the French Open when he lost his fourth-round match against clay-court maestro Rafael Nadal in straight sets.

Nadal, the world No.2 and second seed, has not dropped a set all tournament and beat 14th-seeded Hewitt 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7-5).

He will play fellow Spaniard and No.23 seed Carlos Moya in the quarter-finals.

As has been his way for much of this tournament, Hewitt struggled to get going.

What was different about this match was, his opponent did not give him any opportunity to turn it around.

Nadal broke Hewitt in the first and third games and held serve to race to a 4-0 lead.

Hewitt's first really good shot of the day came in the fifth game when he hit a sharp backhand volley to go 15-0 up, and he went on to hold serve to love.

He came back from 0-30 down to hold serve in the seventh game and, with Nadal serving for the set, Hewitt broke him with a forehand cross-court winner.

The Spaniard converted the first of two break points in the following game, however, to win the set.

Nadal broke Hewitt to love and saved two break points in the next game to race to a 4-1 lead in the second set.

Hewitt was furious when a close line call went against him after Nadal had hit his return into the net for 0-15 and the fiery Australian argued with the chair umpire before letting it slide and recovering to 30-15.

But Nadal went on to break the Australian and cruised through his next service game for a two-sets-to-love lead.

Nadal was clearly having fun in the third set, hitting a spectacular backhand winner as he pivoted mid-air.

When Hewitt's reply to a smash lobbed high into the sky and far too long, the Spaniard showed superb control to catch it with his racquet as he walked back to prepare for the next point before casually swatting it to the ball boy.

Games went on serve until Nadal converted his second of two break points in the 11th game.

Hewitt broke back immediately to force the tiebreaker, but Nadal prevailed when the Australian hit a forehand into the net.

Hewitt now has a 4-3 win-loss record against Nadal, but the Spaniard has all three of their meetings on clay.

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