By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, September 1, 2019
NEW YORK—Darth Federer days may be done, but Roger Federer played vintage demolition man dashing into his 13th US Open quarterfinal.
A sharp Federer donated the opening break then destroyed David Goffin, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0, advancing to his 56th Grand Slam quarterfinal.
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Federer equaled Andre Agassi for second place on the US Open quarterfinal list trailing only Jimmy Connors, who contested 17 quarterfinals in New York.
After an ignominious start to this Flushing Meadows fortnight that saw him drop the opening set in his first two matches for the first time in his Grand Slam career, Federer has caught fire torching a pair of skilled sometime practice partners.
The third-seeded Swiss has surrendered just nine games in successive third and fourth-round sweeps of Daniel Evans and Goffin.
The 38-year-old Federer views today’s thrashing as a perfect storm of his shot making overwhelming a struggling Goffin.
“Sometimes these scores just happen. You catch a good day, the opponent doesn't, then things happen very quickly,” Federer said. “Maybe he struggled a bit early on. But I found my groove after a while and was able to roll really. Never looked back.
“David wasn't nearly as good as I expected him to be. He was struggling a little bit today. I was able to take advantage of it, and I think that's the key. In a fourth round like this, if you can keep it nice, short, simple, you have to take them. I'm very happy.”
Chasing records can still fuel Federer’s motivational fire. He raised his US Open record to 89-13.
“It's definitely very special to be playing for these records,” Federer said. “Being in my 56th quarters now of a slam is definitely a nice feeling. That was obviously the initial goal here at this tournament, try to make it so far.
“So, yeah, I think I use it at the right times for motivation, I guess. That's how far it goes. I don't like to think about it or talk about it all the time with the team or the press just because I want to remember what it was supposed to be when I started.”
Facing the five-time champion on the largest Grand Slam stage can be disorientating experience even for an accomplished former Top 10 player like Goffin, who saw his confidence stripped away and .
“I'm feeling maybe ready now to make a good match against him, try to make some good things on the court,” Goffin said. “But as soon as you there, first match on Ashe against him, you can feel all the 20,000 people are behind him as soon as he hit the ball. All of a sudden every shot is 10 times tougher than usually. All of a sudden what you felt the day before during practice or the last matches, it feels completely different.”
This clash was completely different to Goffin’s lone win over the Grand Slam king which came in the semifinals of the 2017 ATP Finals in London’s O2 Arena.
“He's crushed me too many times in practice not to do it also once in a match situation,” Federer said after his London loss to Goffin two years ago.
Grigor Dimitrov defeated Goffin in the 2017 ATP Finals championship match and will try to take out Federer for the first time in eight meetings when they face off in the quarterfinals.
A resurgent Dimitrov defeated Alex de Minaur, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, to reach his first US Open quarterfinal in his ninth Flushing Meadows appearance.