The six-time champion recorded his 36th consecutive win here in Monte Carlo in just over an hour and a half on Court Central.

Nadal had too much power and consistency in the first set which left 13th seed Gasquet looking forlorn on many occasion. The Spaniard broke the Gasquet serve twice to wrap up the set comfortably 6-2.

The second set saw Gasquet handle the pace coming off the Nadal racquet a little better, enabling him to force a break point against the Nadal serve which he duly took.

The two players were evenly matched until 4-all when Nadal made the important break to lead 5-4.

The top seed then served out the match after forcing an error off the Gasquet backhand with a powerful forehand into the corner.

Nadal will now go on to face unseeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the quarter-finals who defeated an out-of-sorts Tomas Berdych in straight sets 6-4 6-2.