After the short break, Nishikori managed to win three games in the final set before Federer sealed the match to book his quarterfinals spot.
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It’s pretty much a field of old men (by tennis standards) in the top side of the draw – Federer at age 35, Zverev 29, Wawrinka and Tsonga both 31. In contrast, Nishikori hit five aces and won 68 percent of his first-serve points. At that time were Roger Federer and Andy Roddick to lose in he third and second round. Now when the rallies get extended he feels he can compete with the better baseliners, which opens up more tactics for him to use in match-play.
“It’s just insane how quick I got out of the blocks”, Federer said of his nearly flawless match against Berdych.
“I didn’t expect him to play this well from the start”, Federer said. Not consciously, but the subconscious logs everything that happens in a tennis match, and you have got think his attention to detail is off the charts.
Elsewhere in the top half, fourth seed Stan Wawrinka beat Italian Andreas Seppi in straight sets and will now face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Federer beat Nishikori 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
The second set began again with an unstoppable Roger Federer, who broke the serve to his rival with his utmost ease.
The victor will go on to the quarter-finals and book a meeting with either the world No.1 Andy Murray or Mischa Zverev. He had a very tough draw, but surely his eyes must have widened at the exits of the Top 2 players in the world, Murray and Djokovic.
From his serve, to his backhand, to his net play, Federer was in the zone throughout the match and the stunned facial reactions coming from Berdych, and his coach Goran Ivanisevic, will surely become classic internet memes to be used to for many years to come.
Women’s champion Angelique Kerber will also seek to keep improving her game after she ironed out some wrinkles with her easy victory over Kristyna Pliskova to set up a fourth-round clash with American Coco Vandeweghe.
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Having stormed into the match after a 90-minute demolition of Tomas Berdych, Federer showed his appetite for a grind, going toe-to-toe with the fleet-footed Japanese in a match littered with marathon points. The 2008 Australian Open runner-up is a proven force Down Under and he made relatively convincing work of a red-hot Jack Sock on Friday. In the next game, Federer deftly danced around a backhand and unloaded an inside-out forehand victor to go up 2-0.
