IF ROGER FEDERER was out to prove his credentials as a tennis deity yesterday on the Centre Court he may have felt a touch of anxiety as he left the Terre Battue at Roland Garros with his feet still firmly planted on the ground.
Facing Frenchman Julien Benneteau for a place in the quarter-final, Federer's progress was never entirely threatened but nor did the top seed soar so high as to give the winner for the last three years, Rafael Nadal, reason for sleepless nights.
Federer took almost two and a half hours against Benneteau to advance 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 and earn a place against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.
"I think I played an okay match," he said afterwards with a shrug and raised eyebrows.
Never a player to run ahead of himself or ignite panic when there is no need, Federer seemed relaxed and genuinely satisfied to have taken another step closer to the anticipated meeting with Nadal or Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final.
The world number one has a capacity to see things for what they are. His attitude, actually, is not unlike that of former Munster and current Irish rugby coach, Declan Kidney. Regardless of the standard of opposition the Munster team beat or what they have to do for victory, Kidney has always been grateful for the win. Do that and move on.
So Federer was in his 'well a win's a win' mode and was having none of anyone questioning his level of tennis at this point in the tournament.
"I think it's alright," he said. "Today was a particular match, you know against a French player, very streaky, you know. So you always have to be careful. I don't think I had my best serving day today, unfortunately. But the last three (matches) have been good. I'm looking forward to my next round match against Gonzalez."
Federer has taken on clay court specialist, Jose Higueras, as his coach with a firm intention of winning Roland Garros and fitting the final Grand Slam piece that he has not yet won into his growing collection. The French title would also take him one title away from the Grand Slam record of 14, which Pete Sampras currently holds. No talk of that either.
The world number one dropped his serve in each of the three sets against Benneteau and was required to save seven of ten service break opportunities that fell the way of his unseeded opponent.
Federer won the first set breaking Benneteau in the fourth game and again in the tenth.
In the second set he had more of a struggle but the two played on in heavy rain when the match between Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safin, not 150 yards away on Court Suzanne Lenglen, had long since been abandoned. As that womens' match unfolded Sharapova may well have been better advised to stay put too.
But the Swiss eeked out the second set 7-5 and, as everyone knows, nobody comes back from two sets down against a 12-times Grand Slam winner on a mission. So it transpired with Federer taking his third match point and the set for 7-5.
"The match was solid, was good," emphasised the winner. "I waited for him to make more errors. He started hitting more balls in court and all of a sudden, the conditions are very slow. So 'let's be careful about this' is what I thought. But I found the means to win the match. That was very important."
Gael Monfils gave the home crowds something to cheer with a four sets victory over 28th seed Ivan Ljubicic while Spain's David Ferrer secured the last quarter-final place when he came back from two sets to one down to beat Radek Stepanek in the fifth.
