Roger Federer survived a potentially tricky encounter against Chilean baseliner Fernando Gonzalez to reach the French Open fourth round with a 7-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory on Friday.
The result guided the Swiss world number one into the last 16 in Paris for the first time since 2001 and set up a fascinating battle with 1998 champion Carlos Moya of Spain, who overcame Fernando Vicente 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 0-6, 6-4 in three hours 51 minutes for a 12th straight victory against his fellow Spaniard..
Federer could have been forgiven if he had entered the Philippe Chatrier court rather tentatively, having fallen to three-times former champion Gustavo Kuerten at the same stage 12 months ago.
But he kept his eye on the ball to take the first set tiebreak 11-9, after both players had won and lost several set points.
Although the 25th-seeded Chilean kept up the challenge in the stifling conditions in the second set, he finally ran out of steam in the decider to bow out after two hours and nine minutes.
