Second seed Roger Federer recovered from going a set down to beat home favourite Paul-Henri Mathieu.
The 13-time grand slam champion posted a 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 victory on Philippe Chatrier court and will next play Tommy Haas for a place in the quarter-finals
Everything turned out well for the world number two but initially he took his worrying form from his second-round clash with Jose Acasuso into today's match.
Against Acasuso, Federer faced set points in the first three sets, eventually coming good to win in four.
Here, he was broken in the match's seventh game to go 4-3 down before producing an unreturnable serve to save a set point in the ninth game.
Mathieu, the 32nd seed, was not to be undone and he took his second set point with an ace down the middle on a second serve.
Federer, bidding to claim his first Roland Garros title, was more like himself in a 25-minute second set and he broke twice to level things up.
He squandered five break points in the seventh game of the third set but grabbed the key advantage when he broke to love in game nine to go 5-4 up.
He took the set the very next game at the second time of asking when Mathieu sent a forehand wide.
The pair exchanged early breaks at the start of the fourth set but Federer was not to be stopped, earning another to run out the winner in two hours and 46 minutes.
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