Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic faced fired-up Frenchmen and partisan crowds at Roland Garros on Friday, and took differing routes to negotiate safely past them into the fourth round of the grand slam.

Third seed and former champion Federer looked less than superhuman when he had to recover from a second-set loss to beat Nicolas Mahut 6-3 4-6 6-2 7-5 on Philippe Chatrier Court.

Over on Suzanne Lenglen Court, as the sun was starting to set, top seed Djokovic had an entertaining, though one-sided, 6-1 6-2 6-2 win over Nicolas Devilder, the lowest-ranked man left in the draw at 286th.

The women’s draw lost third seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former champion Ana Ivanovic, seeded 13th.