French Open: Roger Federer creates new grand slam record

Federer’s 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 victory over Adrian Ungur of Romania was his 234th in grand slam matches, taking him past the previous record held by Jimmy Connors, which he equalled on Monday.

Were it not for the significance, Federer would probably want to forget yesterday’s encounter after letting slip two match points and a 6-4 lead in the third-set tie-break.

The 30-year-old was not timing the ball well, but managed to dig in when Ungur, ranked 92nd in the world, threatened a break at the start of the fourth set.

Federer made some poor choices but was not unduly worried. The 30-year-old said: “I made two bad decisions on break points at the beginning of the third set, and I had started doing that at the end of the second set.

“I was lucky. I reached the tie-break. Instead of being aggressive, I let him show me what he could do. He played two beautiful shots, and then I started not playing very well.

“We came to the fourth set. I made some decisions which were probably not the best ones but I had some margin. I did not lose any of my service games.”

Djokovic also did not have things all his own away against Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic, the top seed coming from a break down in the second set to triumph 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 and rack up a 23rd consecutive grand slam win.

The 25-year-old admitted he let his opponent back in after winning the first seven games, but gave Kavcic, who had a point for a 4-1 lead in the second set, plenty of credit.

Djokovic said: “He was defending really well in the second and third sets, especially in the second. He wasn’t missing as many balls as in the first set.

“But I gave him the opportunity to come back into the match after a perfect first set, first seven games. But this is tennis. He didn’t have anything to lose and he showed his quality. I’m happy with my game overall.”

Ninth seed Juan Martin Del Potro looked in trouble at a set and a break down and struggling with a knee problem against France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin, but turned things around to win 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4.

But it was the end for America’s Brian Baker, whose professional comeback has been one of the stories of the season. Among the world’s leading juniors a decade ago, Baker was so troubled by injuries that he went back to college and began coaching before deciding to give the professional game one final go last year.

Baker, now 27, won a Challenger in the US last month to earn a French Open wild card and last week reached the final of the ATP World Tour event in Nice as a qualifier.

He beat Xavier Malisse in round one here and it looked like the fairytale would continue when he fought back from two sets to love down yesterday against 11th seed Gilles Simon to level. But playing his first five-set match proved one step too far and the Frenchman ran away with the decider to triumph 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 1-6, 6-0.

Baker said: “When I get back to the hotel room at night, it sinks in a little bit. I can understand that I’m accomplishing some pretty cool things right now.”