Stepping on to the centre court to take on the 88th-ranked Damir Dzumhur, Roger Federer was on his guard.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion had been caught cold at Roland Garros in 2003 by a player ranked just as low, and he made sure that did not happen again.
The second-seeded Swiss advanced to the fourth round for the 11th straight year with a clinical 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over the 22-year-old Bosnian on Friday.
“I’d never played him before; he moves well, he’s very quick. I didn’t know him and I didn’t know how he’d play on the key points,” said Federer, who had lost in the first round to the 88th-ranked Luis Horna 12 years ago. “Mentally I’m not always as relaxed as people might think, there is so much at stake.”
After winning his first two matches in straight sets, Federer put on another aggressive and solid display, saving four of the five break points he faced.
A superb forehand passing-shot set up match-point and the 33-yeat-old sealed it when Dzumhur sent a backhand into the net.
In the women’s tournament, Ana Ivanovic eased past Donna Vekic 6-0, 6-3 to book a spot in the second week.
On a cold morning in the French capital, it took the former champion, who had struggled in her first two matches, just 53 minutes to make the fourth round.
The 2008 champion wrapped up the first set in 23 minutes and finished with 19 winners.
“After the first two matches, I really started to get a little bit of feeling and groove,” said the Serb, who was pushed to deciders in the first and second rounds after twice losing the opening set.
Since winning the title seven years ago, Ivanovic has never progressed past the fourth round at Roland Garros. Her next opponent will be No.9 seed Ekaterina Makarova, who defeated Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.
Also advancing were No.13 Lucie Safarova and No.19 Elina Svitolina.
“The first two matches I really felt like I had kind of a slow start,” Ivanovic said.
“This is something I really wanted to change today.”
Playing on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Ivanovic was broken in the third game of the second set. She recovered quickly though, winning five of the next six games.
Also, advancing was local favourite Alize Cornet, making her maiden fourth-round match in 11 attempts at her home tournament with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 hard-fought win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who finished with 59 unforced errors after her all-risk approach backfired.
Cornet celebrated her victory by falling onto her back, letting out a scream and then bursting into tears.
“At last, I’m into the second week at Roland,” Cornet said. “I’ve been waiting for this for 11 years.”
Richard Gasquet, the 20th seed, needed 32 minutes to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win over Carlos Berlocq and advance to the third round in an encounter that spanned two days.
The players were locked at two sets apiece when their match was stopped on Thursday evening.
“My preparation will be shortened, but everything’s fine for me, I’m physically well,” said Gasquet, who faces 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson in his next match, and has just one day to recover.
World No.74 Teymuraz Gabashvili equalled his best Grand Slam result, reaching the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Lukas Rosol.
Paes & Nestor advance
Leander Paes and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor breezed into the third round of the men’s doubles with a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Andre Begemann and Julian Knowle.
The first set saw both pairs trade breaks.
The tie-breaker saw Paes and Nestor bring all their experience into play to clinch it.
The second set was a cakewalk as Paes and Nestor broke in the second and fourth games to lead 4-0 and rode it out to victory.
In the women’s doubles, top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis defeated the French pair of Stepahnie Foretz and Amandine Hesse 6-3, 6-4 in only 65 minutes in a second-round match.
