By Alberto Amalfi | Sunday, January 26, 2020
Roger Federer powered past sometime practice partner Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to make history as the first man to reach 15 Australian Open quarterfinals.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
It took Roger Federer some time to find a higher gear to his game.
Once he did, Federer sped to a Melbourne milestone.
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The third-seeded Swiss powered past sometime practice partner Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to make history as the first man to reach 15 Australian Open quarterfinals.
Gliding forward, Federer won 31 of 37 trips to net to take control of a two hour, 11-minute triumph.
It was Federer's third win over Fucsovics in as many meetings and came one round after he showed strong survival skills subduing John Millman 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8) in an epic Australian Open thriller that spanned four hours, three minutes.
After a slow start today, Federer quickly put Fucsovics in the rear-view mirror.
“It was a tough start, I thought Marton played clean,” said Federer. “I guess it was the rest of the Millman match, that guy gave me a beatdown from the baseline, so maybe it took my confidence away a little bit and I think it just took some time."
Six-time champion Federer moved closer to a blockbuster semifinal clash vs. seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who hold a 9-0 record over quarterfinal opponent Milos Raonic.
Twenty-time Grand Slam king Federer, who is trying to hold off 19-time major winner Rafael Nadal in the all-time major race, wlll face American Tennys Sandgren for a semifinal spot.
The 100th-ranked Sandgren slashed 21 aces and converted all five of his break points fighting off mercurial Fabio Fognini 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-4 to advance to the AO quarterfinals for the second time in the last three years.
It will be the American's first meeting vs. Federer.
"It would be incredibly special to be able to play him at least once in my career," Sandgren said of Federer. "To play him on a big staging like quarters of a slam would be a ton of fun really."