Novak Djokovic overcame his first real test of the tournament after recovering from two-sets down before his opponent Lorenzo Musetti retired due to cramps and lower back pain, late in the fifth set.
The 19-year-old deservedly won the opening two sets via tie-breaks but the 18-time Grand Slam champion fought back in style and won 16 of the last 17 games of the match before Musetti retired at 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (2-7), 6-1. 6-0, 4-0 after three hours and 28 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Following the conclusion of the second set Musetti won just 17 points and Djokovic claimed the toilet break ahead of the third set helped him to reset.
Djokovic said: ‘After I lost the second set and went out to change and came back on the court, I just felt different.
‘I was a different player. I had better feeling in my shots and I just had more confidence going through the ball.
‘I stopped the amount of errors and I started playing the way I was supposed to play at the beginning.
‘Then towards the end of the third, beginning of the fourth, I saw that he was struggling physically so that obviously gave me even more motivation to try to apply more pressure on him and finish him off.’
As a reward for his comeback, the Serbian will go head-to-head with another Italian in the quarter-finals as Matteo Berrettini received an extra day of recovery due to Federer’s withdrawal from the tournament.
Rafael Nadal sends a signal of intent to his competitors
Rafael Nadal found an extra gear in his game as the 13-time French Open champion rallied to defeat Jannick Sinner in straight sets and reach the last eight of the tournament for the 15th time in his career.
A topsy-turvy opening two sets saw five breaks of serve in each but the Spaniard managed to win eight games in a row from the end of the first set and into the second set to give himself a resounding 7-5, 4-0.
The Italian refused to give in and a series of powerful groundstrokes drew Sinner back onto serve in the second set before Nadal won a further eight games in a row to close out the match 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 in two hours and 20 minutes.
Up next for the 20-time Grand Slam champion is the familiar face of Diego Schwartzman after the Argentinian defeated Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets.
It is the second consecutive year that the pair will meet at Roland Garros and their last encounter was in fact in the semi-final of the French Open last year which Nadal won in straight sets.
Iga Swiatek moves one step closer to defending her crown
The reigning champion Iga Swiatek cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Marta Kostyuk in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 20-year-old is the favourite to defend her title following the fall of several big-name rivals and an impressive run to the quarter-finals which has yet to see her drop a set.
Swiatek officially became the highest ranked player left in the women’s draw following Sofia Kenin’s straight-sets defeat by Maria Sakkari earlier in the day and the two winners will face off in the next round.
Elsewhere, 17-year-old Cori Gauff reached her first Grand Slam quarter-finals after a 55 minute destruction of Ons Jabeur on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Gauff’s opponent will also be participating in her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final as Barbora Krejcikova dismissed former-finalist Sloan Stephens 6-2 6-0 in just an hour and 10 minutes.
