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Milestone man Federer completes the quartet

It took Roger Federer some effort.

For more than half the match it looked like Gilles Simon, the second seed's fourth round opponent at Roland Garros and someone who had beaten the 2009 champion before, would cause an upset.

- French Open: Federer scrapes past Simon

However, an impending landmark meant the Swiss clawed his way back from two-sets-to-one down to beat Simon 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 and set up a quarter-final clash with another Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In doing so, Federer reached the last eight stages in a major for a 36th time in succession. The Swiss has never failed to reach the quarters since former French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten took him out in the third round at this very tournament in 2004.

More importantly, the win against Simon was Federer's 900th career singles win, making him only the fourth player to achieve the milestone that eluded the likes of John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Stefan Edberg.

Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra lists the players from the 900 wins club.

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Milestone man Federer completes the quartet

Jimmy Connors was the first player to win 900 matches in the Open Era.

The legendary American won a whopping 109 titles in a career spanning two decades -- it included a haul of eight majors.

However, at Roland Garros Connors never quite made it in 13 attempts, despite reaching the semi-finals on four occasions.

Connors won 1, 156 matches in his career. It is highly unlikely that Federer would top that mark.

Milestone man Federer completes the quartet

Ivan Lendl comes second in the list of most match wins.

Among his 94 titles were eight major titles, three of which came at Roland Garros (1984, 1986-87). Lendl was also a beaten finalist at the French Open in 1982 and 1985.

The Czech-born American won 1, 068 singles matches in a career that spanned a decade-and-a-half and it will take a herculean effort from Federer to better that mark.

Milestone man Federer completes the quartet

Guillermo Vilas has also won 900-plus matches in his illustrious career.

The Argentine won 62 career titles, including four majors, and was a champion at Roland Garros in 1977.

Vilas won 940 matches altogether and getting past his mark seems a realistic target for Federer.