Rafa Nadal and 19 other left-handers were among the 128 men who entered the French Open. Somehow, Rafa is getting set to face his fourth lefty in four matches.

"Wouldn't be bad to play a right-hander for a change," the three-time defending champion said Friday. "But I'm fine with it. "You see, I haven't lost a set yet."

Good point.

The second-seeded Rafa beat No. 26 Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros and improve to 24-0 for his career at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament.

That includes a 3-for-3 mark against lefties this year, all in straight sets.

"I mean, it's obviously very hard to beat him if you're left-or right-handed," said Nieminen, who dropped to 0-5 against Rafa. "If you are not physically 100 per cent, after a while it starts to get mental, as well. It's very tough to play against him."

Next up for Rafa is No. 22 Fernando Verdasco, a Spanish southpaw who beat No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 on Friday. Verdasco, who has lost all five career meetings with Rafa, will be trying to reach his first major quarter-final when they play Sunday.

"He doesn't give you any points. I'll have to be very patient and sometimes you need to fight for all points against Rafa," Verdasco said. "So I'll do my best. And if I do my best and lose, so what?"

Nieminen does think left-handers have a slightly better chance against Rafa, because the shots he directs at righties' backhands go to lefties' forehands.

"It's a little bit easier," Nieminen said. "But it's still a very tough shot."

Rafa was looking forward to getting some rest Saturday after having spent time on court four consecutive days during the rainy tournament. His first-round match originally was scheduled for Monday, didn't begin until Tuesday, and then was suspended after two games. He finished that off Wednesday, and played in the second round Thursday.

"It affected me only a bit. The matches were short," Rafa said. "Actually, the worst part was waiting to play my first match. It took two days and waiting that long makes you nervous."

The only sign of any problem Friday came after the second set, when a trainer came out to treat a blister on the bottom of Rafa's right foot. It's something that bothered him during his loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Rome Masters this month, one of only two defeats for Rafa in his past 113 matches on clay.

"It wasn't hurting too much. I asked for treatment just as a precaution," he said. "I didn't want a repeat of what happened a few weeks ago."

Believe it or not, the man often called the "King of Clay," wants more chances to play on grass courts.

"Well, the grass-court season is very, very, very short, no? I always say the same, no?" the two-time Wimbledon runner-up said. "It's not fair: You only have two weeks (to) prepare for (a) very important tournament like Wimbledon."