Roger Federer's Difficult Road to French Open Title Will Begin in Quarterfinals

No disrespect to Roger Federer's fourth-round opponent, Gilles Simon; the 28-year-old Frenchman will play spiritedly in front of his countrymen, but Fed will move on.

Simon is coming off a five-set marathon with American Sam Querrey. It was his second five-set match this tournament. He also needed four sets en route to the fourth round. Fatigue could be an issue against Federer who hasn't dropped a set at Roland Garros this year.

Beyond that, Federer has won the last three head-to-head matches against Simon. That third win gave Federer the edge over the Frenchman in the five matches the two have played. Most recently, he defeated Simon 6-1, 6-2 on clay at the Italian Open.

Once Federer defeats Simon, he'll enter the quarterfinals for the ninth straight year. As it should be, this is when the road will get tough for Fed.

If things shape up predictably, Fed will have to knock off an even tougher Frenchman on his home turf in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer and Tsonga have already played in a few classic matches.

Most recently, Federer needed five sets to drop Tsonga at the 2013 Australian Open. This potential matchup will not be an easy match for Federer.

If Fed again survives a quarterfinal meeting with Tsonga, he could then be in for a semifinal battle with clay-court wiz David Ferrer. Both Ferrer and Federer would probably have a few more clay-court championships if their careers didn't overlap with Rafael Nadal's.

Ferrer is very good on clay, but he has consistently seen his hopes vanquished by Federer and Nadal. He's 4-19 against Nadal and a whopping 0-14 against Fed. The latter includes an 0-5 mark on clay.

Even though Fed's record against Ferrer is unblemished, Ferrer's style usually forces opponents to work hard for points.

A potential final matchup with Nadal or Novak Djokovic would cap a tough but impressive run for Federer. He has cruised through the tournament so far, but things are about to get tough for the all-time great.

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