Federer masters Tomic to reach Australian Open quarters
Roger Federer defeated Bernard Tomic 64 62 62 to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open.
Tomic could only shake his head in disbelief as Federer dug into his bag of tricks and unleashed his full repertoire, highlighted by a balletic leaping backhand smash.
"I thought I played a really good match. I knew I had to, anything else and I wouldn't have got the job done," said Federer.
"The score would suggest otherwise. If you hadn't seen the match you would think straight sets, no problem, but I had to work extremely hard and Bernard showed why he is going to be a great player in the future."
The Swiss hit 45 winners to just 13 from Tomic, and broke serve six times from 10 opportunities.
Next for the former Australian Open champion will be Juan Martin Del Potro.
Federer and del Potro clashed in the Australian Open quarter-finals three years ago, when Federer dealt the Argentine his worst Grand Slam defeat with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 victory. Later that same year, though, del Potro edged Federer in a five-set epic in the US Open final.
"I think it's going to be a good match," said Federer. "Look, I think he's coming back awfully strong again. Injury came and things obviously changed, and now he's had to have a great year to get back in the Top 15, and now he's making his move to the Top 10. I think it's going to be a tough one. He really came through convincingly in the last two especially. We know the firepower."
Del Potro beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
"I can say I'm very happy to be in quarters," said del Potro. "It's amazing for me to play another quarter-final at a Grand Slam after three years, so it's good signal for my comeback.
"Roger is the best tennis player in history, and of course he's the favourite," added del Potro. "I remember three years ago I played in the quarters against him and I only won three games. So if this time is something different and I win more games is going to be okay for me."
Sunday, January 22, 2012
