It looked, for big stretches of the match, like a bit too much for Federer to bear as he mishit forehands, pushed his one-handed backhand tentatively and struggled to free himself from the shackles on a centre court full of French and Swiss fans wishing him well. Federer said, despite appearances, Nadal’s absence did not weigh on him in Monday’s match.

“He’ll bounce back strong; I’m convinced of that,” Federer said. “Of course my dream scenario is to beat Rafa here in the finals, but I’ve got to concentrate on my part of the draw and make sure I come through like today.”

Spain’s Tommy Robredo, seeded 16th, advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-4 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 victory over Kohlschreiber and will face Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina after the fifth seed defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-2 6-7 (5) 6-1 6-4. (NYT)

Paes-Dlouhy in semis

Leander Paes kept the Indian challenge alive by advancing to the men’s doubles semi-finals with Czech Lukas Dlouhy. The third seeds thwarted a late challenge from fifth seeds Bruno Soares of Brazil and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe to emerge victorious 6-2 7-6 (5).

The Indo-Czech pair face either top seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia or Russians Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov.