Federer on fire in US Open third-round win over Kyrgios

As he drifted in and out of the match, Federer stayed on target and never truly looked like being beaten, despite both the first and third sets going deep on serve before the former World No. 1 was able to pounce with a break of serve. The best one of all, though, was a flick around the netpost which reduced Kyrgios to open-mouthed admiration. He was agonizingly close to getting there a year ago at the U.S. Open, leading by two sets against Juan Martin del Potro in the round of 16 before the 2009 champion roared back to win. “He’s just come to Switzerland to train with me and he’s a great guy”.

Federer, of course, is in search of his 20th Grand Slam singles title.

Recalling her 2017 quarterfinal victory over Sevastova, which was decided by a third-set tiebreaker, Stephens said: “I had to dig really deep”. “Nobody was expecting me to get that far”, Pliskova said after beating No. 18 Ashleigh Barty 6-4 6-4.

At one point, the Swiss marvel played one of the shots of his career, a jaw-dropping around-the-net-post forehand victor that left even his vanquished opponent in awe.

‘I think we’re two very different characters, ‘ he said.

The Swiss will face John Millman in the last 16, while Kyrgios – at the centre of a controversy in the previous round when he received a pep talk from umpire Mohamed Lahyani – must reflect on another failure to fulfil his rich potential. “He’s not going to play as well as he did towards the end of the first set or into the second set”.

On account of Federer’s sixteen aces, one double fault and carried out 4 break factors out of ten.

The Aussie star took to social media to congratulate the 37-year-old and predicted Federer could well be on his way to the 21st Grand Slam of his career. “He loosened up straightaway after that”. All the pressure was off him. “I hope that it’s a little bit more comfortable on hard court, but I’m not sure”. “When he gets in front, there’s not much you can do”.

We admit: We also didn’t know you could shoot the ball around the net.

“I was trying to tell him that the shot wasn’t that good!”

– Dominika Cibulkova, who measures up at 5ft 3ins (1.60m), has found a soulmate in tennis’s land of the giants in men’s player Diego Schwartzman who is just 5ft 7ins (1.70m).

With Kyrgios serving at 5-5, Federer asked the question again, and Kyrgios could only reply with two unforced errors to hand his opponent the break.

“For a shot like this to happen in a practice, you will will be running into a fence and you will hit it into the net”. I think, you know, just the way he goes about things. “I don’t want to change myself too much, but I could definitely take away things he does in certain situations”.