PARIS — Chasing a shot, Roger Federer caught his right shoe in the French Open’s red clay, twisting that foot awkwardly and tumbling to the ground.
Soon enough, he was in a real rut, in danger of his earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament in nine years.
Federer regrouped and restored order eventually, coming back from a two-sets-to-one deficit to beat 15th-seeded Gilles Simon of France 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday in the fourth round to reach his 36th consecutive major quarterfinal.
“I didn’t hurt myself or anything,” Federer said afterward. “But maybe I did lose that touch of confidence.”
During a rare stretch of mid-match mediocrity from the owner of a record 17 Grand Slam championships — the 2009 French Open trophy is part of his collection — Federer lost 10-of-13 games, including the one in which he fell.
But Simon, a former member of the top 10, couldn’t keep Federer down. Still, the Swiss star acknowledged the need to “tidy up my play” before he faces another Frenchman — No. 6-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga — in the quarterfinals.
Federer’s turnaround was not the biggest of the day. Not even close. That distinction belonged to 32nd-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, who is specializing in comebacks: He is the first man in 86 years to win three matches in a row after dropping the first two sets.
Robredo did it in the second round Wednesday. He did it in the third round Friday. And he did it in the fourth round Sunday, defeating No. 11 Nicolas Almagro 6-7 (5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Robredo also was behind 4-1 in the third set, 4-2 in the fourth and 2-0 in the fifth.
“Nobody dreams of doing such things,” said Robredo, who dropped to his knees, leaned forward and wept after winning.
In the women’s draw, Serena Williams earned a berth in the quarterfinals and extended her career-best winning streak to 28 matches by beating No. 15-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-3.
It was Williams’ toughest test of the week, but she still swept the last 10 points. “I just want every point,” she said. “Every match, I’m really focused for the whole period of time. I really want it every match.”
Top 10 men’s career winners, open era
1. Jimmy Connors 1,242
2. Ivan Lendl 1,071
3. Guillermo Vilas 924
D 4. Roger Federer 900
5. John McEnroe 875
6. Andre Agassi 870
7. Stefan Edberg 806
8. Pete Sampras 762
9. Ilie Nastase 755
10. Boris Becker 713
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