“He (Simon) plays every match like that”.
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Raonic cruised to the first two sets, then watched as Wawrinka attempted to come back from two sets down for the seventh time in his career.
World No. 3 Federer would defeat Grigor Dimitrov in the last round, after relatively easy first round victories against Basilashvili and Dolgopolov in the first two rounds of the competitions.
No. 2-seeded Andy Murray, a four-time finalist at Melbourne Park, plays local hope Bernard Tomic in the opening night match, followed by American Madison Key’s match against Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai.
Federer has been nearly flawless en route to another Australian Open quarter-final but faces a stern test today against Berdych.
The courts are lower bouncing this year, according to the players, and that will help the Czech’s flat hitting on both wings, but the flip side is that the tall Berdych will have to reach down lower than he’s comfortable doing. Unlike Sharapova, who had to play under the roof because play started while it was lightly raining, Williams was playing with the roof open on the main arena at Melbourne Park. I think the court suits him.
“The Australian Open released a statement on Sunday saying, “(the) referee reviewed the situation … as Nick walked on to the court before his match he answered a phone call then hung up.
The Swiss replied, “Yeah, the one thing in tennis they tell me is I should – once they told me I should play on the lines”. Li Na saved a match point in her third-round match at the 2014 Australian Open on the way to the title.
There was a big contrast between defending champion Djokovic, who is going for a record-equalling Australian Open title, and the 34-year-old Federer, who hasn’t won in Melbourne since 2010.
Moving forward into the court easily, Federer soon put on a master class for fans at Rod Laver Arena that included the great Rod Laver watching from the stands.
The 17-times grand slam champion established the tone for the match in the first set, which he roared through in 21 minutes as he conceded just two points on his own serve and broke the Belgian twice. The last time she managed a win was at the WTA Tour Championships in 2004. Last year, Bencic was on the receiving end of a WTA-record 27 aces from Sabine Lisicki.
Indeed, the pair haven’t played on fast surface since consecutive meetings in Dubai in 2013/14, which ended in a win apiece, with both going to three sets.
Roger Federer might not be the elite unstoppable force he once was, but the Swiss competitor will fancy his chances here against Belgium’s David Goffin.
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I think this will be a very close match, maybe even five sets.
