By the time Andy Murray was last to leave the stage, after 15 hours of the rawest emotion, the Palais Omnisports was more or less deserted and the Metro had pulled the plug for the night.

As Murray celebrated a tight three-set victory over James Blake in the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters, Roger Federer was packing his bags to head home to Switzerland, Marat Safin had left the sport for good, Rafael Nadal was hanging on to his place in the tournament by a thread and Julien Benneteau had enjoyed the moment of his sporting life.

It was always going to be thus when six matches, five of which involved the top five players in the game, were laid back-to-back on Court Central here.

Murray successfully negotiated his way past Blake at just gone 1.45am local time, but it was only ever going to be torture because that was the way of the morning, noon and night of a mesmeric day of combat.

Thank goodness the British No 1 could call upon his serve — four of his 22 aces came in one second-set spurt — and the indomitability that is at the heart of his rise to prominence. His 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 victory had a dislike of defeat writ through it, the backhand cross-court shot that took him to match point the pick of the crop.

Today, in the last 16, he plays Radek Stepanek, of the Czech Republic, who still harbours a thin chance of reaching the eight-man Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London the week after next. At least that should be completed on its appointed day, for sleep did not come easily to a few stars last night.

Indeed, tennis was treated to that rarest of sights: Federer, the world No 1, disappearing from sight on his opening day, something that had not happened to him since the Masters in Canada last year.

What a moment it was to cherish for Benneteau, the 27-year-old Frenchman, whose elation was twice as pleasurable the second time around, for Federer stalled at the end by calling for a Hawk-Eye challenge on a serve down the middle.

When confirmation came, Benneteau, who had climbed up from his knees, shook from head to toe and wept again. The dismissal of the man whose last performance on French soil was his staggering victory at Roland Garros in the spring was the rudest of all shocks, but let no one doubt that Benneteau deserved his 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory.

Nadal, who defeated his compatriot, Nicolás Almagro, in three sets, talked of the better player’s ability to win while playing poorly and how thankful he was to be a bit of a master of the art. It was not true of Federer a few hours later, but then Benneteau proved a master of resilience. He did not bend, he was the equal of the Swiss from the back of the court and he volleyed masterfully.

These things happen, Federer said. He will put it behind him and practise with greater fervour in preparation for London. Do not doubt he will arrive with much to prove, which makes him a highly dangerous customer.

Without the sun on his back and proper light in his eyes, Nadal is not the same player. Of the 36 titles to litter his meteoric career, only one, in Madrid four years ago, came with a roof over his head. If that suggests the Spaniard should not be widely backed in London, so be it.

For a few, mesmerising minutes yesterday against Almagro, the Palais Omnisports had been transformed into Roland Garros. Having fashioned five match points serving at 6-5 in the second set, Almagro was beaten back by a ferocious blaze of shots that only Nadal, four times the French Open champion, can produce.

With his 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory, the world No 2 qualified to meet Tommy Robredo, another Spaniard, today. Expect better, for he does. And not for the first time recently, Nadal had to handle a question about his weight — the general perception being that he is not as bulky as he once was — which he did with his usual charm.

“Unless all the \ in the world are wrong, I am still 86 kilos, the same as I was four years ago,” he said. “I think it is the clothes that make me look lighter but I am not, for sure.”