Nadal was inspired as a youngster by fellow Majorcan CarlosMoya who won the French Open in 1998, backing up the double success for Spain's Sergi Bruguera in 1993 and 1994.
In other potential quarterfinal pairings, fourth seed Tim Henman of Great Britain would face fifth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and Spanish third seed CarlosMoya would meet seventh-seeded German Rainer Schuettler.
Andy Murray won the battle of Britain when he beat Tim Henman 6-2 7-6 (7-3), while Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, CarlosMoya of Spain and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also breezed into the round of 16.