Federer salutes the crowd after defeating Melzer
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Switzerland’s Roger Federer beat 13th-seeded Jürgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Monday to reach the last eight of the United States Open tennis tournament.
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Federer, who has won the event five times, will now play Robin Söderling of Sweden who beat the Swiss in an upset at the French Open quarterfinals earlier this year in Paris.
“He’s always been a dangerous player,” Federer said in an interview. “This is obviously a tough draw for me in the quarters, playing Robin.”
Playing in front of a capacity crowd in New York, Federer came up with a performance that included 41 winners.
“Haven’t lost a set, so obviously, I’m very happy,” Federer said. The number two-ranked Swiss received some help from the net in the second-set tiebreaker, twice hitting balls that hit the tape and trickled over to end points.
Federer and Melzer, both 29, have known each other for more than ten years but had never faced each other as professionals until this summer at Wimbledon, where they also played in the fourth round, with Federer also winning in straight sets.
The Swiss has now won 44 of his past 45 matches at the US Open, the only defeat coming in last year’s final against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.
Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Britain’s Andy Murray in a third round tie on Sunday, takes on Sam Querrey of the US on Tuesday in his bid to reach the quarterfinals.
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Roger Federer has won a record 17 grand slam titles but is no less motivated and hungry for success than when he turned professional back in 1998. The stylish Swiss star is the undisputed king of the tennis court.
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