With Roger Federer’s records, the numbers usually speak for themselves. As a keen student of the game, the 17-time Grand Slam champion’s memory is as impressively sharp as his shot-making. Most of the time.
Having never fallen before the third round at Melbourne Park in 16 prior appearances, the world No.3’s record never looked under threat as he carved his way past flashy Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on Wednesday.
His 6-3 7-5 6-1 result in little more than 90 minutes produced 39 winners from the 34-year-old’s racket. The win inched Federer closer to another milestone – this time, match wins in the majors.
“300 today, is it?” he asked on-court interviewer John Fitzgerald.
It was 299. Victory over either Grigor Dimitrov or Marco Trungelliti in the third round would get him across the line.
Having never fallen before the third round at Melbourne Park in 16 prior appearances, the world No.3’s record never looked under threat as he carved his way past flashy Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on Wednesday.
His 6-3 7-5 6-1 result in little more than 90 minutes produced 39 winners from the 34-year-old’s racket. The win inched Federer closer to another milestone – this time, match wins in the majors.
“300 today, is it?” he asked on-court interviewer John Fitzgerald.
It was 299. Victory over either Grigor Dimitrov or Marco Trungelliti in the third round would get him across the line.
“You jinxed me. Let’s see,” Federer laughed.
Dolgopolov had arrived in Melbourne having reached the Hopman Cup final with Elina Svitlona, while Federer reached the final in Brisbane.
In quick conditions on Rod Laver Arena, it was Federer who was in control throughout. The closest the Ukrainian played the No.3 seed was at 5-all in the second before the Swiss landed his second break of the match with a low-dipping backhand drawing the error from an outstretched Dolgopolov at net.
Back-to-back return-of-serve errors from the Ukrainian’s racquet handed Federer the set 7-5 and from there the Swiss was in cruise control, rifling a backhand bullet down the line to break one last time to close out the match with a 22-minute third set.
It marked Federer's first outing at a major with new coach Ivan Ljubicic in his corner, after the departure of Stefan Edberg last season.
As a master of the game, Federer saw the appointment crucial, not so much in a technical sense, but in providing an alternative perspective to what he may have already considered.
"There is always a different angle or something else you can work on or something that maybe you tend to forget sometimes, as there are so many things to work on and so many things keep changing. The game keeps evolving," Federer said.
"So I think it's important to have an open mind ... I think the support team and everybody involved, they can push with a little bit extra when times get tough. Or just on a regular day, rather than me going through the motions or getting used to something, I shouldn't be doing in practice or in a match, they remind me what to do and motivate me to do it.
"Those little extra percents here, five per cent overall, can make a massive difference when you're talking about trying to win a tournament or not."
Read more from Tennis
