‘Winning 300 Grand Slam matches is very special’

Third seed Federer brought up the milestone thanks to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 third-round victory over Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open on Friday.

Yesterday he added another, reaching 300 victories in grand slams, head and shoulders above the rest and perhaps the most incredible record of them all. Yet he still gets a thrill from the numbers.

“I don’t know, it’s very exciting, I must tell you”.

“When I reached 1000, it was a big deal for me”.

“It’s just a pleasure seeing legends around to be quite honest and the Rocket is someone who is very special in the game of tennis, to me anyways”, said Federer.

“I wish I could have maybe been tougher when I was younger in practice, but I guess that’s just how it needed to be”, said Federer, who was eliminated in the first round of 2003 Roland Garros by underdog Luis Horna before finally putting it all together weeks later at SW19. I’m very pleased. It was a nice surprise out here tonight for me’. Federer’s next aim is to break a Grand Slam title drought that dates to Wimbledon 2012.

Federer was the last match on the main showcourt in Rod Laver Arena on Sunday but because of an earlier lengthy five-set clash between Novak Djokovic and Gilles Simon, he did not begin his fourth round match with Goffin until 2248 local (1148 GMT).

He noted how he liked the renovation – the No. 2 stadium has had a roof installed since his last outing there.

Goffin continues to break new ground at the year’s first grand slam, the Belgian into the fourth round having never previously been past the second in his four previous attempts.

“These are the great matches to win, I tell you that, because you’re not going to feel 100 per cent great every single time when you go out there”. “The spray doesn’t work, the strapping doesn’t work, I just have to get on with it”. Though Goffin had taken a set off Federer in their last meeting in Basel, nothing could have prepared him for Federer’s fine form tonight.

The No. 5-seeded Sharapova faces Swiss teen Belinda Bencic in the next round and could meet top-ranked rival Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. “It’s definitely not built for warmth, but it’s built for speed”.

The world number one, who is bidding to tie Roy Emerson on six titles, stepped closer to a potential semi-final showdown with Roger Federer with a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) third-round victory over Seppi.

Kei Nishikori is the first male player through to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park, defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in front of a hugely partisan crowd filled with flag-waving Japanese fans.

Federer advances to play No. 15 seed David Goffin of Belgium, a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5 victor over No. 19 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria.

The eight matches on Saturday in Melbourne will be (4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Lukas Rosol, (16) Bernard “The Tank Engine” Tomic vs. John Millman in an all-Aussie, (13) Milos Raonic vs. (21) Viktor Troicki, (2) Andy Murray vs. (32) Joao Sousa, (10) John Isner vs. (18) Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez, (23) Gael “Force” Monfils vs. Stephane Robert in an all-French, (8) David Ferrer vs. (31) Steve Johnson, and Dudi “Where’s My Car?”

Johanna Konta, Britain, def. Denisa Allertova, Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-2. Raonic and Troicki won the warm-up tournaments in Brisbane and Sydney, respectively.