Morning:
8°c
Roger Federer made ridiculously easy work of defeating 14th seed Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the US Open quarter-finals last night.
If Federer makes it six titles in a row in New York on Sunday he will take his all-time grand slam-winning record to a staggering 16.
Federer, who now meets Sweden's Robin Soderling in a repeat of this year's French Open Final, is aiming for a 22nd successive slam semi-final and said: “It's about having fun out there, playing a good match, enjoying the moment because it's something not many people get an opportunity to do.
“I think everybody would love to be in my shoes and why should I give away my spot? I enjoy that people love to come see me play and that is motivation for me. I mean, it's plenty. I have plenty of reasons to keep on playing.
“I remember Robin well from the French Open Final which was a great one for me, a great tournament.
“It's a tough challenge. I hope I can play well because it's always kind of close with him. He's a good player.”
Robredo believes that, in this form, Federer is going to be very hard to stop. The Spaniard said: “He was playing so good. When he plays like this it's tough. When he saw that he was up a set he started hitting harder. Then it's difficult to handle.”
While Federer is hugely impressive on the court, he admits his excellence does not extend to the daily chores involved in looking after his twin daughters with wife Mirka.
The Swiss star insists that being a tennis player means his time is limited when it comes to nappy changing and said: “Thank God nobody is judging me on it, but I'm trying hard.”
Soderling, the 12th seed, moved into the last eight when Nikolay Davydenko quit due to a thigh injury after the Swede had taken a two-sets-to-one lead. Soderling was ahead 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 at the time.
Meanwhile, hopes of a home winner in the men's singles were ended as John Isner was beaten
4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 by 10th seed Fernando Verdasco.
The big-serving American defeated fifth seeded Andy Roddick on Saturday night, but faded badly and it will be the Spaniard who takes on fourth seed Novak Djokovic, who demolished Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Djokovic has been cruising through the tournament and is on course to face Federer in last four and said: “I didn't give him any chances. I now play Fernando who has been playing the tennis of his life this year.”
