A patient Roger Federer weathered a second set storm from Grigor Dimitrov before slapping down the Bulgarian 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open and clinch his 300th win in grand slams.
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Roger Federer reached the last 16 at the Australian Open after proving too strong for Grigor Dimitrov in their highly-anticipated third-round match.
Federer finally beat Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, but the match served to further highlight a potentially fatal flaw in Federer’s game – the Swiss’ tendency to give away points on unforced errors. Like when I reached 1,000 past year, it was a big deal for me.
“I wish I could have maybe been tougher when I was younger in practice, but I guess that’s just how it needed to be”, said Federer, who was eliminated in the first round of 2003 Roland Garros by underdog Luis Horna before finally putting it all together weeks later at SW19. So it’s very nice.
He’s the first man – ever – to win 300 Grand Slam matches. I’m pleased. Wasn’t easy. “After the second set, I was just getting a little flat”.
It was a moment that once again demonstrated the mental strength of the Serbian 10-time Grand Slam victor – against an awkward opponent who beat Federer at the same stage a year ago.
“I try to play like I wouldn’t want it and I play the wrong way sometimes”.
Sharapova hasn’t beaten Williams since 2004, losing their last 17 meetings, including last year’s Australian Open final.
World number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic made his way into the fourth round, upending Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(6). Sharapova said, when an on-court interviewer congratulated her for the achievement earned by winning her third-round match Friday at the Australian Open.
Goffin took the opener off Federer when they met at the French Open in 2012.
She advanced with a 6-1, 6-7 (7-5), 6-0 win over Lauren Davis before she was reminded of the milestone, becoming the 17th woman to reach the mark.
This story has been corrected to show the score in the last set of the Sharapova-Davis match was 6-0.
The Australian public has become very taken with Gavrilova, who represented Russian Federation until gaining Australian citizenship in 2014, over the first week of the Open. And when 24-year-old Bulgarian – nicknamed “Baby Fed” due to his similar game style – poached the second set from his unofficial idol, the possibility of the apprentice surpassing his master loomed large. Especially after Brisbane, I got to Sydney, I was playing matches pretty much every day since Tuesday or Wednesday.
The fifth-seeded Sharapova will next play No. 12 Belinda Bencic, who won the opening match on Rod Laver Arena 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 against Kateryna Bondarenko. “But the rest of it is you have to teach it to yourself and learn it, get it right”, the 34-year-old said.
“I think it’s a proud number”, she said later.
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Japan’s Kei Nishikori continues to be under the radar, just the way he likes it, despite a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain that put him into the fourth round and a clash with former runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
