French Open: Roger Federer Downs Janko Tipsarevic, Next Up Jimmy Connors

That Roger Federer emerged victorious yesterday was not a surprise, but it almost could have been.

It could have been, considering his last match against Janko Tipsarevic at a grand slam, that went to a nail-biting 10-8 in the fifth at the Australian Open in 2008, and the fact that Federer hasn't too much looked like the Federer of old, especially at the grand slams.

Having lost all his empire at the majors, and managed only (only) two consecutive semifinals thus far, he seeks a third, and possibly, the first slam final in a year and a half.

His victory over Janko Tipsarevic will certainly have been quite encouraging—Tipsarevic admittedly faltered at important moments, but Federer, it has to be said, and it may be said by and large, was just a superior player playing some superior tennis.

It was in fact one of the few moments in the last twelve months when one might have aptly described a Federer masterclass, for such matches have been few and far between. At the grand slams, possibly his last such feat could be perceived in ladt year's victory over Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals at the US Open; but still, this is only the third round.

He faces next a fellow countryman, but a dangerous one. Stanislas Wawrinka won his match too yesterday, albeit with more effort than he might have liked, taking five long sets, and a textbook epic comeback against local hope Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

It will be a familiar scenario, and one that Federer, for it, ought to be wary of. Wawrinka has played Federer twice in the last four grand slams, and lost both times in straight sets. Their last meeting on clay, exactly a year ago here, however, was a tense affair in the second, with Federer just edging his good friend in the tiebreaker there.

He does chase much more than yet another victory over Wawrinka at a grand slam (well he does chase a lot things it has to be said). A win tomorrow will secure his place in yet another grand slam quarterfinal, and indeed would be his 28th such consecutive appearance at this round at a grand slam.

Which would beat someone else, too: Jimmy Connors, whose record of 27 consecutive quarterfinals was once considered, and indeed very much is, practically unattainable.

But Federer, of all players, isn't one to be practically impaired. He does things out of common practice, and even in this latter period in his career continues to do so.

Twenty-eight consecutive quarterfinals, dating back to Wimbledon 2004, a time when Djokovic, or indeed almost half the guys in the current top 10, had barely even begun walking, in the terms of the tough world of top-notch tennis. Federer-Nadal had only just begun, and at the parochial setting of the Miami Masters. It would seal at once Federer's granddaddy status in men's tennis.