By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Roger Federer brought his A game to Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday and used it to take down a notoriously tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. The victory leaves Federer one victory shy of becoming the first male in the Open Era to reach 300 Grand Slam wins and sets up a third-round match with Grigor Dimitrov.
Federer cracked 25 aces and did not face a break point over the course of the 93-minute encounter.
“I thought today I did serve very well,” Federer said after the match. “You know, maybe just matched up well with Dolgopolov maybe wasn't seeing it as well. But also conditions are fast during the daytime, so that helps to be able to serve through opponents.”
Dolgopolov clung to within a break in the first two sets but once Federer claimed the second set by breaking in the 12th game he was off to the races.
The 34-year-old Swiss won eight of the final nine games, finishing the match with 39 winners against 26 unforced errors.
“I had to work on defense quite heavily for I'd say for the first two sets,” Federer said of his performance. “After that, you know, let loose a little bit and was able to hit more freely, which was a good thing. You know, the serving definitely helped.”
He added: “I'm very pleased with this win. I think it's a tough second round. My opinion, [Dolgopolov is] better than a lot of the guys who are ranked ahead of him.”
Federer, who defeated Dimitrov in the Brisbane quarterfinals just two weeks ago, says he expects a totally different match because of the conditions of his health and the conditions of the courts in Melbourne.
“Honestly, Brisbane overall was tough to judge in the sense that I was just playing within myself, trying to sort of get through the matches without too many long rallies,” he said. “He's fit enough for a five-setter, so, yeah, I mean, gotta definitely bring my best game to the court.”