(CNN) Back on clay and back winning matches, Roger Federer has reached yet another landmark: a 1,200th career victory more than two decades after his first professional win.

The 20-time grand slam winner saved two match points against France's Gael Monfils before coming through in a final-set tiebreak to reach the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, in his first tournament on clay since May 2016.

His milestone win comes 21 years on from his first, when he secured his first ever ATP Tour main draw success by beating Monfils' compatriot Guillaume Raoux in Toulouse.

Federer's victory puts him just 74 match wins behind Jimmy Connors, who holds the men's record. Martina Navratilova won 1,442 matches on the women's circuit.

Of men's players still active, Rafael Nadal is fifth on the list with 936 wins, while Novak Djokovic has 853.