Patient Federer Strikes Past Medvedev Into Miami Quarter-finals

Roger Federer booked a place in the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals for the 11th time in his career (11-2) on Wednesday afternoon. The fourth seed and three-time former champion knocked out the 2019 ATP Tour match wins leader, No. 13 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia, 6-4, 6-2 in their rain-delayed clash carried over from Tuesday night.

Federer will next look to beat sixth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson on Thursday at the Hard Rock Stadium, the new venue of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. Federer leads Anderson, who is coming back from an elbow injury, 5-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series that includes four hard-court victories.

In a first set serving dual, Federer remained patient and waited for the opportunity to strike at 4-4 by chipping away at Medvedev’s backhand. In winning a 34-stroke rally at 30/40, the Swiss pounced on a short ball from Medvedev, who overcooked a forehand long on the next point.

Federer recovered from 0/40 in the next game, mixing up his service placement and pace, and Medvedev’s head dropped when another unforced error – again, on his forehand – gifted his opponent the first game of the second set. Federer’s run of five straight games ended when Medvedev held for 1-2.

At 2-4, Medvedev found himself in trouble, letting slip a 40/15 lead to be broken for a third time, courtesy of a double fault and Federer calmly recovered from 0/30 in the next game to wrap up his 15th victory of the season. Overall, 37-year-old Federer hit 22 winners and committed eight unforced errors, in the 62-minute encounter, to extend his perfect record against Medvedev to 3-0.

Federer lifted his 100th tour-level trophy three weeks ago at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Tsitsipas) and came into Miami on the back of a final run at the BNP Paribas Open (l. to Thiem). Medvedev, 23, who now has a 17-6 match record on the season, captured his fourth ATP Tour title at the Sofia Open in February (d. Fucsovics). He also finished as runner-up at the Brisbane International (l. to Nishikori) in the first week of the 2019 ATP Tour season.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2TZMDER