For fans who delight in such things, there was a pleasing sense of symmetry in the results for both former French Open champion Roger Federer and compatriot Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss stars sailed into their respective fourth rounds with identical 6-4 6-3 6-2 scores.

Federer said, “My own game was good. It took me a little bit of time to get into it, to understand how he is serving, plus he was serving a few of the lines in the beginning. Once I got the rhythm, it got better and better, and I was able to play more freely and mix up the game. I thought Damir [Dzumhur, his opponent] played well.”

The same was true for Wawrinka, playing Steve Johnson who was an unknown quantity for the Swiss No. 2 in this match, their first meeting. Wawrinka has looked pretty focused and perhaps after an unfortunate article prior to the tournament focusing more on his personal life than his tennis, he has largely been under the radar.

He said after the match, “After the first set, things went quite smoothly. I was a little nervous in the first set. I hesitated on a few points. I think I was sort of watching because I didn't really know what to expect.”

Well, the one thing we could all expect was a packed afternoon schedule of Frenchmen had to equal drama, and they did not disappoint. With Gilles Simon the first through, and Richard Gasquet playing catch up to even get into the third round with his match carried over from the night before, the focus was all on Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The French crowd adore them, and with a boisterously rousing rendition of La Marseillaise during Monfils’ match against Pablo Cuevas, we could all be forgiven for snatching up a baguette and joining in.

Cuevas drew first blood, taking the first set and urging a listless-looking Monfils to lift his game to take the second-set tiebreak. The Uruguayan struck back and looked to have it all sewn up in the fourth set, having opened up a 4-1 lead with two sets already in hand. But you cannot keep Monfils down, and he broke Cuevas three times in a row to take it into a decider.

Monfils can slide away. Remember his collapse in his fifth set against Andy Murray last year? Again, it looked as though he was off to a bad start as he was broken in the first game. Always one to stun the commentators and crowd alike, Monfils proceeded to break the Uruguayan twice in a row, and from there he never looked in danger of losing that advantage, seeing him off 4-6 7-6(1) 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Tsonga toughed out a first-set tiebreak before progressing in comfortable straight sets over Pablo Andujar, 7-6(3) 6-4 6-3.

Toughing things out was the order of the day for defending champion Maria Sharapova, who still had to struggle with a cold. Although she handled an in-form Sam Stosur in straight sets, Sharapova looked visibly emotional with the win.

She said, “I was just really happy to win this one. I knew it was going to be a tough one going into the match, considering the start of the week was really tough. I knew I had a tough opponent, and I just wanted to be as ready as I could. I was really happy to win it.”

There were no such drama for Ana Ivanovic, who steamed through her third-round match, after starting slowly in the tournament and twice having to come from a set down. But there was less good news for eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who was beaten by Flavia Pennetta in straight sets.

The line up on Chatrier for Saturday is looking more glittery by the day, with Petra Kvitova starting the day’s action followed by Novak Djokovic against Aussie teen sensation Thanasi Kokkinakis, with the prospect of another great match up between Serena Williams and a constantly improving Victoria Azarenka as well.

Lenglen kicks off with Andy Murray against Aussie showman Nick Kyrgios, and with Rafael Nadal third on the schedule.

Play begins at 11am CET.