By Chris Oddo | Monday September 7, 2015

 

Roger Federer reached his 46th career Grand Slam quarterfinal with a straight-sets win over John Isner on Monday in New York.

Photo Source: USTA/US Open

As expected things were tight between Roger Federer and John Isner on Monday night in New York. At times they were tighter than Federer would have liked, but the Swiss came up with the goods when it mattered to ease past the American and into the quarterfinals, 7-6(0), 7-6(6), 7-5.

More: Federer Says Agassi Inspired His Longevity

“Obviously John has one of the best serves in the game,” Federer said. “I think the pace on his second serve is unreal. You just have to hang around and make sure you don’t drop your own serve, and I guess that was also the key to the match.”

Isner, who entered the match with 93 consecutive holds at the US Open, picked up where he left off in this night session battle on Arthur Ashe, saving three break points in the sixth game of the first set to ensure that he’d have a shot in a tiebreaker.

But it was in the tiebreakers where Federer put his experience to work. Not only did he defeat Isner soundly in the first-set tiebreaker, he became the first player in history to defeat Isner in a tiebreaker without dropping a point.

“As long as you win the break it doesn’t matter what the score was,” Federer said after the match when he was told on court what he'd accomplished.

Isner didn’t let the setback dampen his spirits, however, and he brought his lunch bucket to the second set, digging in and earning five break points. Federer faced 0-40 scare at 1-2 down but some crisp, pinpoint serving enabled him to wiggle out of trouble. A few games later Federer was in hot water again but he squirmed his way out to level at 4-all.

Though Isner had the first mini-break of the second-set tiebreaker, Federer roared back from 5-3 down to capitalize on his second set point with a wickedly struck down-the-line backhand winner that kissed the sideline for a two sets to love lead.

Federer had Isner in a 0-40 hole midway through set three, but he could not convert and the match looked to be headed to a third-set breaker before the Maestro finally broke through to end Isner’s streak of 110 consecutive holds in the final game.

Federer struck 55 winners against 16 unforced errors, saved all five break points he faced and dropped only nine first serve points across the two hour and 39-minute contest, and he’ll face Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals.

Gasquet took out Tomas Berdych in four sets to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open for the second time. Federer owns a 14-2 lifetime edge against Gasquet that includes victories in their last six meetings.