Roger Federer reaches 300 Grand Slam victories milestone

Federer defeated Grigor Dimitrov to reach the fourth round of the Grand Slam.

Dimitrov has only lost three of his 10 matches this year, with two of those coming against 17-time grand slam champion Federer.

“It’s very exciting, I must tell you”, he said. “Not something I ever aimed for or looked for, but when it happens, it’s very special”, said Federer, who now trails overall Grand Slam match victor Martina Navratilova by just six matches. Or his serve, or his … well you know what I mean. Meanwhile, the frustration mounted for Dimitrov as Federer pulled away.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – The countless records and accolades accumulated over a long and illustrious career don’t in any way diminish Roger Federer’s satisfaction when he sets yet another benchmark.

Long touted for big things, 12th seed Bencic was the first player into the round of 16 after fighting back from a set down to overhaul Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 4-6 6-2 6-4 in the earlier match at Rod Laver Arena. The world number five took a break and changed her dress after losing the second set and she came back revitalised and roared through the final set to reach 600 career wins. The Swiss, though, handed him the break to love with three wayward forehands in the fourth, and after 39 minutes and 18 errors from Federer, Dimitrov levelled, 6-3. He did rally well to take the third set but it was just a step too far to force a fifth, as Berdych booked his place in the fourth round 6-3 6-4 1-6 6-4. He noted how he liked the renovation — the No. 2 stadium has had a roof installed since his last outing there.“I played a quality player who took out Federer last year here and who has been on the tour for many years, ” Djokovic said. Federer looked on from the locker room in amazement; his match followed Sharapova’s so he was keeping track of proceedings.

The four-time Australian Open champion will now face Belgian 15th seed David Goffin in the round of 16 on Sunday.

“If you want to go in the quarterfinal you have to play a big match and you have to give everything and to play wonderful match to go to the quarterfinals”, Goffin said, per Vivienne Christie for the Australian Open.

It was a great test. It was a physical match.

As for Sharapova, who won the third-round match 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-0, she sticks to energy bars and gels for her on-court snacking. “Hopefully with each match, I can just do better”.

Novak Djokovic was given his first real test of the tournament by Andreas Seppi, but the top seed was able to move into the fourth round in straights sets. I think if I think about it like that, like, Oh, I’ve been around the block, I’ve been to all these tournaments so many times, that would seem quite heavy, not really motivate me much. In other matches, Japan’s Kei Nishikori beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ousted fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/4).

The woman, however, who last season foiled Serena Williams’ bid to achieve the first calendar year grand slam since 1988 couldn’t duplicate her NY success as the U.S. Open finalist Roberta Vinci fell to Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam 0-6 6-4 6-4.