Roger Federer is back to his stratospheric levels in Melbourne. The former world no.1 had to face an in-form Nishikori to beat the Japanese in a fantastic five-setter in the 4^th round of the Australian Open.

The match

After a horrible start, Roger was 0-4 down in no time. It seemed to be a bad day for the Maestro, but eventually, he found his way while trailing 2-5 to win four consecutive games and grab a sensational 6-5 lead. Kei bounced back in style in the following tiebreak that he won at four thanks also to a crucial minibreak that he has conquered with a fantastic backhand return. 

Roger didn’t lose his faith in the following set also because in the second part of the opening set he was clearly the better player (with the huge exception of the tiebreak). The Swiss conquered the crucial break in the 7^th game of the second set to win 6-4. 

Then, Roger crushed the Japanese in the third to win 6-1. When Kei seemed to be done, he had a crucial hold in the 4^th game of the 4^th set when he saved two break points and subsequently Roger had an “amnesia” to lose his own serve out of the blue and drop the set 6-4. 

From the beginning of the decider, it was clear that Federer had much more gas in his tank than his opponent (that was also struggling with his back) to grab a fast 3-0 lead. Later, Nishikori had a couple of gritty holds, but Roger won all his following service games without much struggle to clinch the match 6-7 (4) 6-4 6-1 4-6 6-3.

This is a big moment in my career. FEDERER

After the match, Roger conceded that this was a very important win for him to comment

“He played his heart out, and I thought he played a great match, I’m happy to be a part of it. He was hanging tough and playing really well on the big points. I was telling myself to stay calm, and this is what I trained for in the offseason. This is a big moment for me in my career.”

Next vs. Mischa Zverev

Roger will play Mischa Zverev in the quarters. Thea head to head is 2-0 for the Maestro that has conceded no games in their last match in Halle (6-0 6-0 I 39 minutes). Roger is widely expected to make it to the semi-final.