Monday, January 23, 2017
Yesterday, Swiss tennis player Roger Federer defeated Japanese player and current world number five Kei Nishikori in the Australian Open’s fourth round. 17th ranked Federer is to play against 50th ranked Mischa Zverev in Zverev’s first ever Grand Slam quarter-final.
Nishikori won the first set 7–6; he scored five aces in the entire match. Federer committed eighteen unforced errors in the first set which lasted for 57 minutes. Four-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer made a comeback in the second set, winning it 6–4. He served 24 aces in the entire match. He went on to claim the third set in just 26 minutes, winning it 6–1. Nishikori levelled in the fourth set 6–4, winning one break point, but Federer was the better of the two in the last set.
Federer won 29 net points out of 44. Nishikori won just 19 out of 30. Federer won seven out of eighteen break points, Nishikori registering three. After winning the match, Federer said, “I thought it can’t get any worse from there. It was hard not to win that first set after all the effort but it paid off in the end. This is a huge win for me in my career.” The 35-year-old Federer was unable to compete in competitive tournaments following a knee injury in last year’s Wimbledon and had arthroscopic knee surgery.
Seventeen-time Grand Slam event winner Federer has emerged as the winner at the Rod Laver Arena on four occasions, in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2010. His compatriot and winner of the 2014 edition of the tournament Stan Wawrinka is to face French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals.
David Goffin became the first Belgian to reach Australian Open’s Quarter Final after defeating Austrian player Dominic Thiem 5–7 7–6 6–2 6–2. US player Coco Vandeweghe defeated women’s number one and last year’s winner Angelique Kerber in two straight sets 6–2 and 6–3, celebrating the victory with a dab.