Tennis-Open-Federer overcomes early jitters to down Mathieu

PARIS, May 30 (Reuters) - Roger Federer faced a few nervous moments before he navigated past plucky Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the French Open on Saturday.

After saving five break points during his opening service games, Mathieu pounced on his only opportunity to break for 4-3 and the local favourite protected his advantage to bag the first set with a scorching ace.

Federer, chasing a record-equalling 14th major, did not allow his opponent to stay on cloud nine for long as within minutes he had sneaked into a 3-0 lead in the second.

He was happy to tease the French fans by allowing Mathieu to pull off some crowd-pleasing winners but when it mattered, the Swiss pulled rank and sealed victory with a thumping forehand winner to set up a last-16 encounter with Germany's Tommy Haas. (Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; Editing by Sonia Oxley; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)