Prescient court positioning and fluid movement have helped Roger Federer conjure a magical return in Paris.

Merging his racquet skills and creativity, Federer had Leonardo Mayer seeing double at times today.

Federer: Why I Play

The 37-year-old Swiss was always one step ahead dismissing Leonardo Mayer, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, without facing a break point roaring into his 12th Roland Garros quarterfinal.

Here are our Top 5 Takeaways from Federer's surge to his record-extending 54th Grand Slam quarterfinal.

1. Dirt Cleanse

Twelve sets up, twelve down.

Returning to Roland Garros for the first time in four years, you'd expect Federer require some time to shake the rust. The 2009 champion has played clean combinations throughout the first week and played nearly pristine tennis today.

Federer did not face a break point and permitted only eight points on serve today. Through four tournament wins, the third seed has not dropped a serve and has surrendered serve just twice.

2. Taming Turbulence

On the hottest and breeziest day of the tournament, Federer's skill varying the height of his shots presented shifting targets to the lanky Argentine.

Mayer, who sometimes struggled to locate his lofty ball toss amid the tricky breeze, committed 31 unforced errors compared to 19 for Federer.

3. Front Foot First 

Returning to Paris, Federer is in no mood to play the waiting game.

Through four rounds, the third seed has been quick off the mark, hitting off his front foot and effective taking the first strike to wrench control of rallies.

That's been a key to his historic progress. The father of two sets of twins is the third-oldest Roland Garros men’s singles quarterfinalist in the Open Era after 40-year-old Pancho Gonzalez in 1968 and 39-year-old Istvan Gulyas in 1971.

Of course, playing first-strike tennis will be much tougher in Tuesday's quarterfinals when Federer meets heavy-hitting Stan Wawrinka in what could be damp, slow conditions. 

4. Minimize Expectations, Maximize Effect

In the lead-up to his Roland Garros return, Federer wisely downplayed expectation.

Candidly conceding he wasn't sure how his aging body and attacking game would adjust to his first Roland Garros in four years, Federer said he was returning to Paris to enjoy the tournament and stay sharp for grass-season.

One week after his opener, the 37-year-old Swiss has been efficient advancing to his 12th Roland Garros quarterfinal and embraced enthusiastically by fans missing the 2009 champion.

That's made for stress-free entry into the most competitive stages of the tournament.

"You need to be brutally honest to yourself sometimes and just say, I don't know, my forehand is terrible right now," Federer said. "I'm not going to tell myself, It's great. That's why sometimes you go to the practice court and work on it.

"Same thing with your body; you need to know the things that are working and not working. As the unknown on the clay and here in Paris, to some extent, was still high, you know, it was a scenario, you know. Like it was today a scenario to also lose in straight sets. Like for that matter, any match I play on the tour for the last 20 years, there is a chance I lose in straight sets."



Shrewdly managing expectation, Federer made it clear he came to fight.

"But I take enough shirts on the court, I take enough racquets, strings, shoes, I'm ready for the battle," Federer said. "And I'm there to fight. I'm not going to go without trying."

5. Roland Reunion

It will be a buddy battle as Federer faces a resurgent Stan Wawrinka for the 26th time. The third-seeded Swiss has won 22 of 25 meetings with his Olympic gold-medal doubles partner, but all three of Wawrinka's wins have come on red clay.

While a fierce Wawrinka was fighting off Stefanos Tsitsipas in an epic five-hour, nine hour classic that may well have been match of the year, Federer was relaxing, scouting and maybe even kicking back enjoying a chocolate croissant watching a titanic tug of war that's sure to sap some strength from Wawrinka's legs.



Federer's last French Open loss was a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) defeat to Wawrinka on a windy day in the 2015 quarterfinals. The 34-year-old Wawrinka has come back strong from a pair of knee surgeries in 2017, but is coming off back-to-back physical victories over Grigor Dimitrov and Tsitsipas.

"Against Stan it's more straightforward," Federer said. "We know each other very well, we have played a ton of matches against each other. Also on clay, this is when it's been most tough for me against him.

"If I think back at Monaco finals, French Open here in '15 and then also he beat me in Monaco another time. So on clay it's been definitely more dangerous than on any other surface for me against him.

"Look, it always starts by saying I'm just happy for the guy that he's back after his knee problems. They were severe, and that's why I think he's really happy he got sort of a second life on tour, because I think for a while there he wasn't sure if he was ever going to come back again. It's nice to see him pain-free and playing well."

The Miami Open champion has historically lifted his level in long Roland Garros duels: Federer has won six of seven five-set matches he's played at the French Open. He's hoping he'll see a different Wawrinka than the one who was pummeling the ball in 2015.

"I hope he's not at the level of '15, but we'll find out, because there he was crushing the ball," Federer said. "It was unbelievable."