Roger Federer taught rising teenage star Bernard Tomic a painful lesson on Sunday, breezing past the teenager in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. The Swiss 16-time grand slam champion showed all his experience in administering a clinical 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over the 19-year-old Australian to set up a clash with Juan Martin del Potro in Tuesday’s quarters.
It was an intriguing match-up on Rod Laver Arena, with Federer pitted against the unconventional skills of Tomic, who regards the Swiss as the greatest player of all time and idolised him when growing up. Federer took control after a competitive opening set and needed 1hr 44min to wrap up a conclusive victory over the 38th-ranked youngster, whom he tips for big things.
“I knew that the points were going to be played differently than the last match he played with Alexandr Dolgopolov,” Federer said. “So I figured he was going to play a bit more aggressive, that it was going to be a tough match, which it was. “Maybe the score suggested differently, but I thought we had a lot of long games, tough points, and I thought he did actually really well.”
The Swiss legend broke Tomic’s serve six times and gave up his service once in dominating the evening contest with 45 winners to Tomic’s 13. “I had a few chances in the first set, and it’s good to play a player like that and a player who is as good as he is and for me one of the best who has played,” Tomic said.
“You learn a lot when you play him, and you just improve and see what he does and improve in your game. “For me, it’s a great pleasure and honour to play him. I think you learn a lot over the period when you play these top guys. You can just only get better if you lose against him.” Federer, who is bidding for his fifth Australian title, will now face Argentine 11th seed del Potro, who beat him in the 2009 US Open final for his only grand slam title. “I think it’s going to be a good match. I think he’s coming back awfully strong again,” Federer said of his quarter-final against the Argentine, which will be his 1,000th tour match. “I was sad to see that he was out for so long after his amazing year in 2009 and I thought he had a chance in 2010 to sort of make a run for world number one. “Injury came and things obviously changed, and now he’s had a great year to get back in the top 15 and now he’s making his move to the top 10.”
