King of Clay sorry for pummelling Monaco

 Such is Rafael Nadal's dominance over his rivals on clay that he is now feeling sorry for them.

On Monday, the second seeded Spaniard demolished experienced Argentine Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, winning 17 games in a row to advance into the quarterfinals and stay on course for a record-breaking seventh Roland Garros title.

"I shouldn't have this type of score against one of the best players in the world," Nadal, who has lost only one match on the Paris clay since his French Open debut in 2005, said. "I saw him suffer a little bit on court at the end. He is one of my best friends on tour. I feel very sorry for him."

Monaco, the 13th seed with two claycourt titles to his name in 2012, came out with all guns blazing but after leading 2-1, the Argentine hit the Rafa wall.

With a certain sense of understatement, the awe-inspiring left-hander summed up his condition: "Yeah, I feel good, no?"

"Before (breaking in the fifth game) I didn't play fantastic, but it's true that he started the match playing aggressive," said Nadal. "In my opinion, he was unlucky in the first set. That's my feeling. 6-2 was too much. I am very happy with the way I played afterwards. I feel very, very sorry for him. He's playing probably the best tennis of his career, but probably not today."