Reuters
Cincinnati, August 21: Defending champion Roger Federer cruised into the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters here Thursday with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of South African Kevin Anderson on an otherwise tough day for the top seeds that saw Rafa Nadal eliminated.
Swiss second seed Federer needed just 55 minutes to register his easy win but top seed Novak Djokovic, third seed Andy Murray and fifth seed Stan Wawrinka were all taken the distance in their respective matches.
Federer looked fresh and advanced to a last eight encounter against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, who upset 2013 Cincinnati champion Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
“I think the first break always gives you a bit of a boost and right then I felt conditions weren’t that fast and I could probably get some more balls back than maybe a day session,” Federer told reporters.
“Then it was just important to keep it up with my serving. I did that very well tonight, so I am really pleased it was a rock solid performance,” he added.
Djokovic looked in danger when he dropped the opening three games of the final set against 13th-seeded Belgian David Goffin, but roared back for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win to set up a French Open final rematch against Stan Wawrinka.
Wawrinka beat Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to book a showdown against the top seed.
The Serbian World No. 1 ran into trouble when his 24-year-old opponent broke in the first game of the second set.
Goffin went on to win eight of the next 10 games to put himself in position for a massive upset but Djokovic found his groove in time to prevail.
Wawrinka was also forced to dig deep in his third round clash where big-serving Karlovic fired 35 aces to his opponent’s eight, but the Croatian’s biggest weapon faltered when he needed it most as he double faulted while serving to save match point.
Murray looked a little jaded after a tough two weeks but the Briton somehow recovered to beat Grigor Dimitrov 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 in a little under three hours after twice looking to be headed for defeat.
Trailing 5-2 in the deciding set after also being 4-1 down in the second, Murray dug deep into his resources to rally for a victory that sets up a quarter-final against Richard Gasquet.
Sixth seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic breezed by unseeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-0, 6-1. He will meet Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals after the Ukrainian qualifier dispatched Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Bopanna, Sania advance
Cincinnati: Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea saved a match point before emerging winners while Sania Mirza and Martin Hingis were also tested en route to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters here Thursday. Bopanna and Mergea rallied to win 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 13-11 against the French pair of Pierre-Hugues and Herbert Nicolas Mahut. In the women’s event, top seeds Sania and Hingis eked out a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over Germany’s Julia Goerges and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik from Poland.
