For Anderson it took a bit more effort than his opening round to dispatch of Pablo Cuevas. The Uruguyan may be 68 places below Anderson's ranking of 7th but as a clay-court specialist he was always likely to test the 32-year-old South African.

So it proved, because after the big-serving Anderson won the first set 6-3 Cuevas returned the favour in the second. The third set went to a tie-break, and with a momentum shift on the line Anderson (who at one stage called for a trainer to attend to an issue on his right foot) needed to find his range.

He did so to edge the tie-break 7-5 and then secured the vital break of serve in the fourth set to seal the 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win which secures him a third round clash against Russia's Mischa Zverev on Saturday.

Meanwhile, South Africa's top doubles tennis player Raven Klaasen also advanced to the next stage at Roland Garros with a relatively comfortable win.

Klaasen and Michael Venus, his partner from New Zealand, faced Frenchmen Hugo Nys and Jonathan Eysseric and won 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to seal their Round of 16 place.

The 10th seeds made their first serves count for them, by winning 85% of the points on them. Ultimately, though, Klaasen and Venus took the single break of serve needed to win through, but they'll have to wait until Friday afternoon to find out who their next opponents will be.