Piers Newbery
BBC Sport at Roland Garros

"Dominic Thiem won plenty of new admirers during nearly two hours on Chatrier, including Nadal, who applauds him off the court. A few of those flashing strokes had the locals gasping, but for the most part he endured the same painful examination as 61 of Nadal's previous 62 opponents at Roland Garros, sent far and wide to try and play winners from the furthest reaches of the arena. The 20-year-old Austrian managed it 27 times, but those 41 errors cannot have felt exactly 'unforced'."

Andy Murray will be somewhere, stretching and flexing in the wings. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is serving for the match against Adrian Mannarino on Court One and the Scot is next up on the order of play.

While that one plays out, let's have a quick squint at what has been going on elsewhere in the French capital today...

That victory means Rafael Nadal's record at Roland Garros stretches to 61 victories and just the one defeat - against Robin Soderling in 2009.

Whether someone can join Soderling in that most exclusive of clubs is the big question of this year's tournament.

Nadal has lost three times on clay this season - to David Ferrer in Monte Carlo, Nicolas Almagro in Barcelona and Novak Djokovic in Rome - and still looked a little short of his stratospheric best today.

Rafael Nadal, following his victory over Dominic Thiem: "He is a future star, 100%. He has everything to become a big champion. I love this court, it is my favourite one and every time I have a chance to play at Roland Garros it is an emotional thing. Today I played a solid match against a dangerous opponent. I was lucky that I found my best tennis today."

It will be Argentina's Leonardo Mayer or Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili next to throw themselves in front of the Rafael Nadal steamroller.

A broad grin and a clap of palm against strings to all four corners as Rafael Nadal does the business and thanks Philippe Chatrier for their support.

Dominic Thiem is sent on his way with a hearty round of applause. It won't be the last time we see him on this court.

Rafael Nadal is moving up through the gearbox smoothly. He breaks Dominic Thiem for the second successive game and is a service hold away from the third round.

Thiem is starting to spray his groundstrokes as he tries to combat the Spaniard with more power.

Image source, Reuters

Over on Court One, Adrian Mannarino has just pulled a set back against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

He trails two sets to one and Andy Murray is at least 45 minutes away from getting his shoes dusty.

The attention to detail in Rafael Nadal's kit continues to fascinate. The tongues of his trainers are emblazoned with 'Rafa', as though his mum is concerned that he might misplace them in a busy lockerroom.

No-one wants to have to fish an odd pair out of the lost property box. I'm shuddering at the memories.

Nadal might be back in the locker room soon. A solid hold puts him in front in the third.

The Parisian crowd can be a fickle bunch, but they are enjoying this one. A flurry of fetches and scurrying groundstrokes from Dominic Thiem keeps the point alive, before Rafael Nadal finally has him pinned in no man's land and pings away the winner. Break recovered.

Image source, Getty Images

Kit check: Rafael Nadal is sporting a baby-blue top with grey shorts and shoes that combine both colours. A bit of thought has gone into that ensemble.

Thiem is a little less sartorially co-ordinated in a fluorescent shirt, black shorts and plan white plimmies.

Thiem is a little less co-ordinated on court as well, pumping a return long to give the king of clay the game.

So in the meantime let's settle in for a little bit of Nadal-Thiem, where the Austrian youngster has just kept his nose ahead in the third with a dinky little pick-up volley...

Later today, British number one, world number eight and two-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray will cross swords with Australian Marinko Matosevic for a place in the third round.

That is third up on Court One after Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Adrian Mannarino, currently on serve in the third set after the first two went Garcia-Lopez's way, are done.

Could be 20 minutes, could be two hours.

Thiem has shown plenty of promise on Court Philippe Chatrier, walloping some spectacular forehand winners and breaking early in the third set, but the 20-year-old is, as expected, several leagues below the general standard set by Nadal.

Nadal leads 6-2 6-2 1-2 on the showpiece stage.

Image source, Getty Images

When your nickname is "Dominator" you had better be good.

Dominic Thiem certainly is good. A former world junior number two, he reached the boys' final at the French Open in 2011.

But 'good' is relative when you are up against eight-time champion Rafael Nadal.