PARIS -- Roger Federer is a famously fussy fellow.
The 33-year-old winner of 17 Grand Slam singles titles plays an elegant, buttoned-down game that is most effective when everything, particularly the elements, is in its proper place.
So with darkness descending on Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday evening, with rain in the air and gusting wind blowing fine red particles of dust into his eyes, Federer looked miserable. He staged a brief rally but lost the second set to Frenchman Gael Monfils. After Federer had a brief discussion with chair umpire Carlos Bernardes, the match was wisely postponed.
When Federer returned early to the court on a crisp and sunny Monday afternoon, he seemed to be a completely different player. He broke Monfils' serve in the first game of the third and fourth sets and had few worries on his way to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Monday's portion of the match required a more typically tidy 62 minutes, and Federer will now play Swiss Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka on Tuesday in the quarterfinals.
"I was solid today," said Federer, who has won 16 of 18 career matches against Wawrinka. "That was exactly what I wanted to do today."
Wimbledon is famous for its middle Monday card, with all 16 round-of-16 matches in action on both sides of the draw. Many consider Big Monday the best day in tennis.
This Monday at the French Open wasn't terribly far off. In addition to the four regularly scheduled men's and women's fourth-round matches, featuring Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, there were three bonus matches held over from the day before when rain and darkness intervened: No. 2 seed Federer versus Monfils, No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova against Lucie Safarova, and Flavia Pennetta versus Garbine Muguruza.
It was a rare day when the Big Four -- and five of the top seven men's seeds -- were all in action. The last time Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Murray, Sharapova and Serena were all playing on the same day in a Grand Slam: four years ago, in Wimbledon's fourth round.
Call it Almost Big Monday.
Federer faced only one break point in his hour or so on court Monday and lost only two points on his serve in the fourth set.
Despite losing to Monfils in their past two meetings, including last month in Monte Carlo, Federer is now 5-0 against Monfils in Grand Slam matches and 4-0 at Roland Garros. There were times when it seemed Federer actually had more crowd support here than the player from France.
A year ago, Federer lost at this stage of the French Open, to Ernest Gulbis in five sets.
"I'm still physically fresh for the back end of the tournament," Federer said. "I'm pumped to be back in the quarters. I feel there's a lot of tennis left for me to play here."