Roger Federer keeps making it look far too easy at the Australian Open. The 19-time Grand Slam winner has advanced to the tournament’s quarterfinals after a 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Márton Fucsovics on Monday in Melbourne.
But one point Federer got in the match was a point he had no business getting.
With Federer leading 5-4 in the second set and Fucsovics serving, Federer mishit a ball straight up into the air like an infield pop-up in baseball. The ball luckily stayed in play, and Fucsovics came up for the smash, but Federer returned it with another shank pop-up. The same thing happened again, and again. Federer finally got one down like a traditional backhanded shot, and Fucsovics hit it right into the net.
It’s an amazing effort from Federer with how much running around he had to do, but Fucsovics should’ve absolutely put one of these away for an easy point.
The rest of the performance was much smoother for Federer, as he looks to repeat as the Australian Open champion.
Federer will face No. 19 Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals, before a likely semifinals showdown against six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (Update: Nevermind). Berdych, Djokovic, and potentially Rafa Nadal in the championship round would make the path to a title a very challenging one for Federer, but right now you wouldn’t want to bet against him. And that’s incredible when we’re talking about a 36-year-old.
[ESPN2]
