Rafael Nadal News, Schedule: Breaking Down Rafa's French Open Bracket After Two Wins

Rafael Nadal breezed by his first two opponents on the red clay of Roland Garros, but the road to the final should remain a tough task for the nine-time French Open champion. Up next for Nadal is a match against Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday afternoon in the Round of 32, while a potential matchup against No. 6 Milos Raonic looms in the quarterfinals and with perhaps No. 2 Novak Djokovic or No. 7 Dominic Thiem waiting in the semifinals.

In his first match of the tournament, Nadal defeated No. 45 Benoit Paire 6-1 6-4 6-1 in a comprehensive win Monday. It took Nadal under 30 minutes to hold off the Frenchman in the first set, as Nadal pounded away shots along the baseline. Paire battled back in the second set to make it competitive, but the Spaniard overcame a 4-3 deficit to win the next three games. Nadal would then close out the 28-year-old in the third set to win the match in less than two hours.

On Wednesday, the fourth-seeded Nadal continued his stellar play with a win over No. 46 Robin Haase 6-1 6-4 6-3 in the Round of 64. Nadal hit 33 winners compared to just 13 unforced errors while not allowing one break point in the entire match.

"At the beginning, I was way better. Then the warm-up ended," Haase joked.

Nadal and Basilashvili will meet Friday at 5:00 a.m. ET. The Georgian, whose straight-sets win over Viktor Troicki came courtesy of three tie-breakers, is unlikely to present a serious challenge to Nadal. The 25-year-old has never advanced beyond the third round of any Grand Slam and has never defeated a top-10 player on clay.

The road to the final gets considerably more difficult for Nadal beyond Basilashivili. Should Nadal continue his hot streak, he will face the winner of No. 57 Jiri Vesely vs. No. 18 Roberto Bautista Agut. After that, the draw consists of Raonic and No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov, as well as Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Pablo Carreno Busta.

At the Australian Open, Nadal defeated both Raonic and Dimitrov on his road to the final.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle standing in Nadal's quest for a 10th French Open title will be Thiem. In May, Thiem defeated Nadal in straight sets at the Italian Open and the 23-year-old Austrian has looked sharp this year following his semifinals appearance at the French Open last year.

Meanwhile, Djokovic has yet to surrender a set in two matches and doesn't appear to have a particularly arduous road to the quarterfinals.