Roger Federer
Against young Belgian David Goffin in round four, Roger Federer progressed despite dropping a set, something which he has done in three of his four matches at this year's French Open. Reuters

When and where: Play gets underway on day 10 at Roland Garros at 8 a.m. ET, with live coverage on the Tennis Channel. Switch to ESPN2 at 1 p.m. to continue watching the action. A live stream will be available throughout the day on ESPN3.

Preview: While the first nine days of the French Open have provided intrigue and no little quality, the year's second grand slam truly heats up with the advent of the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

A fact with which title contenders Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be only too aware. Both men have been able to overcome lapses in form to reach this stage, but may not get away with similar occurrences given the step-up in class of their opponents in the last eight.

Djokovic dropped the first two sets against Italian Andreas Seppi last time out before fighting back to dig out the victory. But the world No.1 will be loathed to try and repeat the trick against a man in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who on his day can take the game to any foe.

The fifth seed also required the full five sets to progress through the last round as he finished off Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday. A former finalist at the Australian Open, where he was beaten by Djokovic, Tsonga will be playing in the quarter-finals of his home grand slam for the first time.

And, while the physically imposing 27-year-old holds an impressive 5-5 head-to-head record with Djokovic, the Serbian has won their last three meetings. Providing he's right mentally, Djokovic's defenses on clay should be able to handle the considerable power Tsonga may throw at him.

The other men's quarter-final is arguably at least as enticing. In a repeat of the 2009 US Open final, not to mention a memorable French Open semi-final of the same year, Federer goes up against Juan Martin Del Potro.

Though the 6'6 Argentine got revenge for his five-set Roland Garros defeat by claiming his first grand slam at Flushing Meadows, Federer has won the last 11 sets of tennis contested between the pair.

But with Del Potro looking potentially poised to return to the game's true elite after a serious injury in 2010, the Paris crowd could be witness to another classic encounter.

While the men's quarter-finals are packed with heavyweights, the women's last eight matchups bare testament to the high number of upsets at this year's event. The biggest of them all being the exit of world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian's conqueror, Dominika Cibulkova, will be seeking to back-up her memorable victory when she takes on sixth seed Sam Stosur on Tuesday.

While Stosur, the US Open champion and former French Open runner-up, has the greater pedigree, Cibulkova's variety and deceptive power means another upset cannot be ruled out.

In the day's other women's quarter-final Angelique Kerber will vie with Sara Errani. The Italian benefited from the early defeat of third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, before knocking out the Pole's conqueror Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last 16.

But the clay-court specialist is likely to come up short against in-form 10th seed Kerber.

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