Shanghai: Roger Federer said that his devoted band of Chinese supporters helped pull him through a tough first set and into the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament quarterfinals here Thursday.
The Swiss defeated David Goffin 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 after the 13th seed from Belgium squandered five set points in the first set. The 38-year-old Roger Federer will next play either Germany’s Alexander Zverev or Andrey Rublev of Russia in the last eight.
“I never really felt like I had the upper hand against David Goffin today,” said the 20-time Grand Slam winner, who looked unusually flustered at times.
Roger Federer was left shaking his head in the first set and he suffered a rare inelegant moment in the 12th game, slipping on his own sweat. The Swiss fell awkwardly and was then broken by Goffin, No. 14 in the world.
But the Belgian lost his nerve despite going 3-1 up in the tie-break, and Federer roared back to turn the momentum in his favour.
Federer was regularly serenaded by chants of ‘Roger, Roger, go go go’ by local supporters all sitting together in one part of the arena. All were decked out in red.
Federer, who failed to win a Grand Slam this year, said their backing had been key to his revival. “I know that if I am in trouble, they will be there to cheer me on,” the affable Swiss said. “If I look to them, or pump myself up, I know they will react to that. It’s definitely very special here because they all sit in one block, sort of like in football to some extent, which is highly unusual for tennis and a tennis tournament,” added Federer.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic made light work of American John Isner and will play promising 21-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the last eight.
Novak Djokovic, the defending champion from Serbia dismissed the 16th seed Isner 7-5, 6-3 in 74 minutes after taming the latter’s booming serve.
“It’s always a big challenge returning the serve of Isner,” said Djokovic. “He’s got one of the biggest serves of all time, he’s one of the tallest guys ever to play tennis.”
Colourful Italian Fabio Fognini set up a quarterfinal meeting with red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev. The fourth-ranked Medvedev was forced to sweat – and not just because of the Shanghai heat – after being 2-5 down in the first set to Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil. The 23-year-old Danill Medvedev eventually squeezed through 7-6 (9/7), 7-5.
AFP
