Stan Wawrinka, the defending Roland Garros champion, powered to a 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(7) over unseeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas in quarter-final action on Wednesday. The 2015 champion is on track to defend his Roland Garros crown and will face Andy Murray in his next match.

“I didn’t want to give [Ramos-Vinolas] anything to use against me, so I hit the ball heavy. Then I was able to get into the court and vary the pace,” Wawrinka said. “In general, I quite like the conditions here in Paris. I am still able to hit through the ball and make some winners.”

Murray leads 8-7 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Wawrinka and is into his fourth semi-final at Roland Garros. The 31-year-old Wawrinka has reached the semi-finals in four of his past six Grand Slams. Both players are seeking to capture their third Grand Slam title.

“Well, we haven’t played that much in the past few years,” Wawrinka noted. “[Murray]’s improved a lot on clay. He’s playing so well, especially if you look at this year. He won Rome, made the final in Madrid and made the semi-finals in Monaco.

“So it’s going to be an interesting match. We’ve had good battles in the past, so I’m quite happy to play him. I think it’s going to be a great challenge.”

Wawrinka started the match in imperious form. He saved two break points in the opening game of the match and raced to a 3-0 lead, before he secured another service break to end the set. The Swiss struck three aces and won six of seven points when approaching the net and overwhelmed Ramos-Vinolas with power, hitting 17 winners in the opener. He would finish the match with 49 winners to Ramos-Vinolas’ 10.

Ramos-Vinolas was coming off an upset win over No. 8 seed Milos Raonic in his previous match, but was unable to find solutions against Wawrinka in the first 90 minutes of play. The Spanish left-hander, who was contesting his first Grand Slam quarter-final, fell behind by two sets and a break before making a late charge and forcing a third-set tie-break.

The Spaniard’s bid to extend the encounter was helped by a flurry of uncharacteristic misfires from his opponent. Wawrinka made 43 unforced errors during the match, with more than half (24) coming in the third set.

Faced with the unattractive prospect of a fourth set, Wawrinka dug himself out of trouble with well-placed first serves and sensible shot selection. He saved a set point at 7/6 in the third-set tie-break by winning a long rally, then swept the next two points to advance.

“Frankly, I’m not very happy. I could have done better during the first two sets. It took me time to react [to Wawrinka’s level],” Ramos-Vinolas said. “I hope that later on I’ll be quite satisfied with what I’ve done during this tournament, and that I’ll play even better in the future. [This run] gives me reasons to work, to move forward, and to improve my game.”

Fifth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan saw off Marcin Matkowski and Leander Paes 7-6(12), 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals of Roland Garros on Wednesday. The 2015 finalists, who saved five set points in a long first-set tie-break, are still on track to capture a third title at the second Grand Slam event of the season (2003, 2013).

In the next round, the Bryans will face the winner of the quarter-final clash pitting Lukasz Kubot/Alexander Peya against Pablo Cuevas/Marcel Granollers. Cuevas won the 2008 Roland Garros doubles title alongside Luis Horna, while Granollers was runner-up in 2014 (w/ M. Lopez).

Defending champions Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, who defeated the Bryans for the title 12 months ago, are also into the semi-finals after defeating Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea 6-4, 6-4. They will either take on 15^th seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, who upset top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 7-6(7), 6-1 on Wednesday, or 2014 champions Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Julien Benneteau.

Ninth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the first set to lead second seed Andy Murray 7-5 on Wednesday in their Roland Garros quarter-final. Gasquet is appearing in his first last-eight match on Parisian clay.

Murray capitalised on the lack of French supporters on Court Philippe Chatrier in the early stages of his 11th meeting with Gasquet by taking a 3-0 lead. Gasquet looked pensive, but began a remarkable comeback – underpinned by fluent groundstroke winners – from a 2-5 deficit. Murray lost his serve in the ninth and 11th games as Gasquet took a 6-5 lead. Under the gaze of Rod Laver, the 1962 and 1969 Grand Slam champion, Murray kept his emotions in check. Serving at 6-5, Gasquet saved three break points and finally clinched the 66-minute opener on his fourth set point opportunity.

Murray, who is attempting to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals for a fourth time, leads Gasquet 7-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Several players competing this week at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Manchester visited a different patch of green grass before their first-round matches. Americans Denis Kudla and Dennis Novikov, Britons Alexander Ward and Brydan Klein, and Australian John-Patrick Smith enjoyed a tour of the world-renowned Etihad Stadium, home of the Manchester City Football Club.

The three players and their coaches got a behind-the-scenes look at the stadium and Etihad Campus, which houses the training facilities for Manchester City’s young academy players. For Klein, whose mother is from Manchester, the experience was particularly memorable.

“My family follows City,” said Klein. “The stadium was amazing, one of the biggest I’ve ever seen…I’ve played tennis in some big stadiums, but nothing compared to that. This is a city which just really loves sports.”

More: Players Visit Manchester United Football Stadium

Smith, top seed Kudla and wild card Ward all play their first-round matches on Wednesday. Kudla takes on Eduardo Struvay of Colombia, Ward plays another Colombian in Alejandro Falla and Smith faces No. 5 seed Benjamin Becker of Germany.

Wild card Liam Broady of Great Britain and No. 6 seed Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine got the 2016 grass court season off to a memorable start with a pair of dive volleys during their matches at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Manchester, England.

With Broady serving down 3-4 in the final set of his match against No. 7 seed and defending champion Sam Groth of Australia, a well-placed forehand forced the Brit to desperately try and stay in the point with a dive backhand volley. As he tumbled to the ground, the ball comfortably made its way well inside the court for a winner. Despite Broady’s efforts, Groth prevailed in the match, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Stakhovsky’s dive volley didn’t reap the same benefits as Broady’s. Up 6-5 in the first set and with three set points against qualifier Marinko Matosevic of Australia, his leaping effort in response to a backhand passing shot sat up for Matosevic to comfortably hit a winner into the open court. However, the Ukranian went on to take the set and eventually the match, 7-5, 7-6(6).

Cannot go more horizontal then this on #tennis #court ???? pic.twitter.com/sIUvr9ZYBV

— Sergiy Stakhovsky (@Stako_tennis) May 31, 2016

Groth next plays American Dennis Novikov in the second round, while Stakhovsky will square off against qualifier Edward Corrie of Great Britain.

Double faults are a necessary evil of our game.

Missing a second serve tends to sting a lot more than missing a forehand or a backhand, especially if the double fault occurs at an influential moment during a match. Double faulting on break point represents the worst timing, but it still happens even at the elite level of our sport.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of double faults, and their timing in a match, illuminates an incredible strength of former World No. 1 Roger Federer -– the ability to get his second serve in the box under pressure.

From the beginning of the 2015 season up to Roland Garros this year, Federer was committing a double fault on break point only once every 22 matches. That is head and shoulders above his peers in the Elite Eight, and speaks equally to his fluent, graceful motion as well as the mental fortitude required to get the ball in play with the match on the line.

Below is a table outlining double faults on break points for the current Top Eight players in the world.

In the past 52 weeks, Federer is averaging only 1.9 double faults per match, which is identical to his career average. He has been a Top 10 performer in this specific area in 10 of the past 13 years, since he won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003.

Federer’s record of 65 consecutive Grand Slam appearances stopped at Roland Garros this year, as he was not able to compete with a back ailment. He is scheduled to return to the tour next week in Stuttgart and then Halle the following week, where he is an eight-time champion.

Federer’s ability to not beat himself is a major key to his success. The Swiss maestro typically targets the opponent’s backhand jam location with his second-serve delivery, staying away from the more potent forehand return, and equally as important, staying away from the singles sideline and center line, where second serves can easily miss wide.

Federer is ranked No. 1 all-time with second-serve points won at 57 per cent through 1,254 matches. Nobody can totally eliminate double faults, but Federer is the best in the business at minimising them, particularly in the big moments where legend status in our sport is forged.