SEPP Blatter wasn't the only esteemed Swiss sporting figure brought down a peg or two yesterday.

But at least in the case of Roger Federer, this one was cost neutral for the Alpine nation. The 17-time Grand Slam winner packed his bags from Paris last night, after having been a victim of friendly fire from his countryman Stan Wawrinka.

This was the 19th meeting between these two players who had combined to take the country to Davis Cup triumph in Lille last November. Federer had won 16 of them, including all five of their previous encounters in the slams. But revenge was duly served amid windy conditions out on Suzanne Lenglen. No fewer than 43 winners off either flank flashed past the greatest player of all time, with the Wawrinka serve so impenetrable that this became the first Grand Slam match since 2002 in which Federer failed to generate a single service break. A grand total of 291 matches have elapsed since then.

The 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory ended in somewhat controversial circumstances, with the umpire awarding a disputed point to Wawrinka at 3-3 during the breaker, but it was a magnanimous Federer who spoke afterwards, already looking forward to challenges ahead. Twelve slams, however, have now come and gone since he last won one. "It's just nice for him [Stan] even talking to him now, to string it together on a big occasion like this at the French where I always thought he'd have his best chance to do well," said Federer. "I made 30-something errors today, and he [the umpire] made one maybe. I'm already thinking about what I'm going to do next, because Wimbledon is going to be a big goal for the season. That's where I want to play my best."

The French, meanwhile, like their grand gestures and one was unfolding out on Philippe Chatrier. A day of drama ended with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the World No 15, lying on the clay, armed outstretched, in jubilation, forming the middle T in the message 'Roland Je T'Aime' which he had just paced out on the court. The reason for his exuberance was simple: he had just recreated his best-ever result at his home slam, a venue starved of a home winner of the men's singles since Yannick Noah in 1983.

It wasn't just Kei Nishikori, last year's US Open finalist, that Tsonga had to overcome. He was a set up and serving for the second at 5-2 when the players had to leave the court for approximately half an hour after a sizeable aluminium plate surrounding the Chatrier scoreboard crashed into the stands, injuring three people, one of them seriously enough to require hospital treatment with lacerations to his wrist. When they re-emerged, Tsonga promptly found himself dragged into a fifth set but he pulled through in the end for a 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

The continued re-emergence of Ana Ivanovic from the Grand Slam wilderness was the main narrative in the ladies singles. The 2008 French Open champion, roared on by celebrity boyfriend Bastian Schweinsteiger, was always too strong in her 6-3, 6-2 win against Elina Svitolina, the No 19 seed from Ukraine who was Jamie Murray's mixed doubles partner here. Spain's Garbine Murguruza has Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario on her side, but Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic was a deserved 7-6 (3), 6-3 winner of the day's other women's quarter final.

In the girls' doubles, meanwhile, Scotland's Maia Lumsden and her partner Anastasia Gasanova went down 7-5, 6-4 to No 7 seeds Pranjala Yadlapalli or India and Wushuang Zheng of China.