Federer shoots down Robredo

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:47

Five-time defending champion Federer had gone into the fourth-round clash at Flushing Meadows with an 8-1 playing record over the Spaniard having won their last eight meetings.

That winning streak was never seriously under threat at Arthur Ashe Stadium as Federer, in their first match since the 2007 French Open, defeated Robredo 7-5 6-2 6-2.

Robredo began the match solidly, earning break points in fourth game only to see Federer take advantage of poor returns from the Spaniard to hold at 2-2.

Robredo did take the opening set to 5-5, before a sloppy 11th game ended with a poor backhand and Federer had the break, from which he took a one-set lead.

Things grew progressively worse from there for Robredo as Federer stayed well within himself and let the Spaniard engineer his own undoing. That did not take long, the 2009 French Open and Wimbledon champion securing a break in the third game and accelerating away from Robredo with another break to move to 4-1 with serve on the way to a two-set cushion.

Federer kicked on again in the third set, breaking in the opening game, and again in the third for a 3-0 lead.

Robredo finally held serve at 4-1 to cheers from the Ashe crowd but it was cold comfort for the Spaniard and Federer mopped things up in an hour and 48 minutes.

Federer now faces Sweden’s Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals, the third grand slam in succession that the two will have met, including the French Open final.

Twelfth-seed Soderling, who has not beaten Federer in 11 previous meetings, progressed to the last eight at the expense of eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko, the Russian retiring with a left thigh injury while trailing two sets to one.

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