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Roger Federer survived another uncomfortable evening to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.<\/p>\nRoger Federer survived another uncomfortable evening to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.<\/p>\n
Having been pushed to the brink by John Millman in a late-night classic on Friday, Federer again dropped the opening set to Hungary\u2019s Marton Fucsovics.<\/p>\n
But this time he did not need a deciding set, scrapping hard in cool, breezy conditions to win 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 after two hours and 11 minutes.<\/p>\n
Federer admitted the Millman match had affected him, saying: \u201cIt was a tough start, I thought Marton played clean. After Millman, the guy gave me a beatdown from the baseline, so maybe took away my confidence a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just had to figure it out. I had a good start to the second set and from there it got a little bit easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federer did not look physically at his best, which was no surprise after his efforts two nights before.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI was able to recover and play a good match so I\u2019m sure I\u2019m going to feel better every day that goes by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defending champion Novak Djokovic reached his 46th slam quarter-final in confident fashion with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over 14th seed Diego Schwartzman.<\/p>\n
After dropping a set to Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round, Djokovic has begun to look ever more like the player who has won six of the last nine titles here.<\/p>\n
The second seed said: \u201cI had a fantastic couple of matches in a row. I felt more confident going through the ball, hitting serves really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was a good test because Diego was in form. I stepped out on the court with a clear game plan. I think I kept things pretty much in control in all three sets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next Djokovic will face resurgent 32nd seed Milos Raonic, who is yet to drop a set and is through to the quarter-finals for the fifth time in six years.<\/p>\n
Amid all the hype around young Canadians Bianca Andreescu, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Raonic has felt a little like yesterday\u2019s man, but the 29-year-old insists he is not trying to prove a point.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouldn\u2019t care less,\u201d he said. \u201cI just care about how I\u2019m playing and feel on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raonic is certainly playing very well, following up his upset of Stefanos Tsitsipas by beating Marin Cilic 6-4 6-3 7-5.<\/p>\n
He has won only two sets in nine matches against Djokovic, but a number of the sets have been close.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to have to serve well, clearly, and then I think I\u2019m going to have to get my return at a high percentage, make him play a lot of those points, and then try to be efficient on my service games,\u201d said Raonic.<\/p>\n
Federer\u2019s next opponent is American Tennys Sandgren, who is once again playing well above his ranking at a slam.<\/p>\n
Ranked 100, Sandgren is through to the quarter-finals here for the second time in three years after winning a wild contest against 12th seed Fabio Fognini 7-6 (5) 7-5 6-7 (2) 6-4.<\/p>\n
Sandgren\u2019s politics were the focus two years ago but here he was something of a sideshow to the volatile Fognini, who rowed with the umpire and the supervisor, took a long bathroom break and received a point penalty.<\/p>\n
Sandgren implied in an on-court discussion that he believed Fognini was allowed to bend the rules, and he explained later: \u201cIt seemed odd that we probably were already at time between the first and second set, then there was a bathroom break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have liked to have seen the ref be a little more forceful for what the times actually were.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a roller coaster sometimes with him. Sometimes you\u2019re just a passenger with what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t play well, all of a sudden he\u2019s playing amazing, you\u2019re stuck with your hands in your pockets like, \u2018Shoot, I\u2019d like to play tennis, too\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n