menstennisforums.com
For a self-described “outsider” at Roland Garros, Roger Federer sure has been playing like one of the favourites in Paris.
The third seed won his 12th set in a row on Sunday, beating Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final in 11 months (Wimbledon, l. to Anderson) and return to the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the first time since 2015, the last time Federer played at the clay-court major.
“Big serving, windy, it was tough conditions... I think when it's this kind of conditions, it's fast, it's swirly, especially the one side, you have a lot of wind in your back. It's like you're serving from sort of a tree, from a mountain, and from the other one you feel like you're playing up the hill,” Federer said. “[It's] important it's focused there and I did that well, and I'm very pleased with the game.”
The Swiss is through to his 12th Roland Garros quarter-final and 54th overall at a Grand Slam, the latter of which extends his record.
At 37 years 305 days, Federer is also the third-oldest man to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garrosin the Open Era. The 2009 titlist will meet Stan Wawrinka or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight. Wawrinka beat Federer in the 2015 quarter-finals en route to the Roland Garros title.
Mayer trailed Federer 0-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but the two had never played on the Argentine's favourite surface of clay. and Mayer held five match points against Federer during their 2014 Shanghai meeting. But during his return to clay this year, Federer has looked as comfortable as anyone, a trend that continued on Sunday.
The Swiss broke in the opening game with a backhand winner down the line, and the fist pumps flowed from there. Federer converted five of his 10 break points and never faced a break point on his serve.
Federer lost to Tsitsipas, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion, in the Australian Open fourth round, but Federer evened their FedEx ATP Head2Head series with a straight-sets win in the Dubai final for his 100th title.
“I would definitely have to look back into how Stefanos plays on clay. Obviously he returns from further back, he's not so far in. But he moves very naturally on the clay surface. So he's coming in with tons of matches, as well, in the year but also on clay, with a great win against Rafa in Madrid,” Federer said.
“So I'm expecting a tough match. He's got the options to serve and volley. I saw him doing that in Monte-Carlo against Medvedev, but then also he's happy to rally from the baseline. He can figure it out, depending on the conditions. I'm hearing it's going to be maybe raining, 20 degrees on Tuesday. That's going to anyway put some adjustments on to all the players playing on that day.”
Federer leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Wawrinka 22-3, but all three of Wawrinka's wins have come on clay: 2015 Roland Garros and 2014, 2009 Monte-Carlo.
“On clay, it's been definitely more dangerous than on any other surface for me against him,” Federer said. “I hope he's not at the level of '15, but we'll find out, because there he was crushing the ball. It was unbelievable.”
atptour.com
The big question will be how much Stan has left after his 5 hour 9 minute marathon with Tsitsipas, especially if it goes another 5 sets.
The big question will be how much Stan has left after his 5 hour 9 minute marathon with Tsitsipas, especially if it goes another 5 sets.
But let's not think about that just yet, and enjoy the fact that he's into another Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros no less. Without losing a set. Well done Rog!.
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