After beating 21-year-old American Taylor Fritz 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 on Friday on the center court at Melbourne Park, and reaching the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament for the 63rd time, he raised his racket to the crowd. It was not unlike what a batter scoring a century would do to acknowledge 100 at the nearby Melbourne Cricket Ground.
He’ll next play 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas, who draws a big, vocal crowd to Melbourne Park.
“I think I wanted to get out of the blocks quickly. I knew of the threat of Taylor,” said Federer, who has won 97 of his 110 matches overall at Melbourne Park. “I think I had extra focus today.”
Tsitsipas had a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili earlier on Margaret Court Arena to become the first Greek man to reach the fourth round at multiple majors. He reached the same round at Wimbledon last year.
Big sections of Greeks sang and waved the blue and white flag and scarves in the crowd. Melbourne has the highest concentration of Greek people of any city outside of Greece, and is getting a lot of attention.
“I’m delighted,” he said. “I feel so comfortable. I feel like playing at home.
“It’s exciting to have such an atmosphere. I never get to play with so many Greek people supporting me … and, and, and, Australians!”
In the only other completed men’s match by early afternoon, 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych beat No. 18-seeded Diego Schwartzman 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Berdych, who has reached the quarterfinals or better in seven of his previous eight trips to Melbourne Park, will meet either 2009 champion Rafael Nadal or local favorite Alex de Minaur in the next round.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Powered by WPeMatico
