It remained all systems go for No. 2 seed Roger Federer as the second round got underway for the bottom half of the draw in Roland Garros. The Swiss star secured a straight-sets win, as did the French favorites and one very understated Japanese player.

Federer certainly did not underestimate the difficulties that Marcel Granollers could cause him, and he had to peg the Spaniard back after being broken in the second set. Unusually for Federer, it brought from him a few yelled oaths into a towel, although after his straight sets win, 6-2 7-6(1) 6-3, he admitted that the frustration got the better of him.

“I played a horrible game,” he said. “It was just very disappointing and frustrating. But after that, I must say, it was probably my best spell of the match right after that. I was down 2-Love in the third. The reaction was what I wanted. Maybe that's also one of the reasons why I did get a bit angry with myself, because it was really just such a bad game.”

“I was able to play with variation today. I was offensive. I was successful at net. So overall, I was very, very pleased.”

There were no such drama for Kei Nishikori, although he was tested a little by Thomaz Bellucci on the way to a straight-sets win, 7-5 6-4 6-4.

Nishikori said after his match, “I have a lot of confidence on clay right now, so I hope I can do well here because I haven't done the best result [here] yet. But I'm feeling really [good] in these two matches and winning three straight sets against a tough player like Thomaz. Very happy to be going to the next round.”

While both Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sailed into the third round, and Benoit Paire outplayed a listless Fabio Fognini, perpetual showman Gael Monfils certainly decided to give the watching crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier full value for money for the day’s ticket. He and Diego Schwartzman swapped sets twice before Monfils got the definitive strike in the final set to dismiss the young Argentine. Was that truly necessary?

Monfils said, “It was difficult today because from a tactical perspective, he was playing something different. It took me time to find a solution. I could do without a five-set match because you lose more energy mentally, more than physically. Today, I played an hour and 15 minutes at a very high mental intensity level. So it's mentally that you wear out.”

Tomas Berdych overcame Davis Cup teammate Radek Stepanek in four sets, and Stan Wawrinka also advanced, but it was not to be for last year’s semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis. His injury woes and resulting lack of form saw him scrape together only a couple of wins on the dirt, and his downward trajectory through the rankings will continue at quite a pace.

Spare a thought for the second match of the schedule to get carried over, as Philipp Kohlschreiber and Pablo Andujar were stopped for poor light at 4-2 in the fifth set to the German. Quite rightly, Andujar was furious that his request to pause at the start of the fifth set had been rejected, while Kohlschreiber must wonder if it is just in the stars that his matches on clay get dragged over days. He played a fifth-set shoot-out overnight against Andy Murray last year, not to mention being disrupted by the Munich weather along with the Brit, before facing him once more in the Madrid Opener at the eye-watering time of 1:12 a. m.

They will complete their match on Thursday, when the crowds on Chatrier will be treated to Rafael Nadal and Murray, while Djokovic takes his turn on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Play continues at Roland Garros at 11am CET.