Federer equals the record of Chis Evert by reaching his 54th Grand Slam quarter-final where he will take on his Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka
Sunday 2 June 2019 21:22, UK
Roger Federer reached a record-equalling 54th Grand Slam quarter-final with another destructive performance at the French Open on Sunday.
Federer continued his straightforward progress through the draw with a 6-2 6-3 6-3 victory over Argentina's Leonardo Mayer.
Federer is one of three men in the draw yet to drop a set and he brushed aside Mayer in just an hour and 42 minutes.
The 37-year-old did not face a break point in the match, losing only eight points on his first serve, and hit 30 winners.
"Of course the hope was to go deep and I'm in the quarters now, so I'm very, very happy at this point," Federer said.
"I served super well and Leonardo had trouble returning. I was able to put pressure on him and I'm very happy with my performance."
Things are likely to get trickier for Federer from now on as the third seed will next face a resurgent Stan Wawrinka, the champion in 2015, in an all-Swiss battle after he came through a five-set epic against Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 6-4 3-6 8-6 in five hours and nine minutes.
Federer leads their head-to-head series 22-3, including their last six, but Wawrinka won the last time they faced each other in Paris, in the 2015 quarter-finals.
Wawrinka said: "Playing in front of such a crowd, such a big atmosphere, five-set match in a grand slam, that's the reason why I came back from the surgery. Because I love and enjoy to play in front of people, to play in the biggest tournaments you can play. Today was something really special."
Defending champion Rafael Nadal struck 40 winners to record his 90th victory at Roland Garros.
His impressive 6-2 6-3 6-3 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero saw the Spaniard reach the quarter-finals at the tournament for the 13th time.
Nadal had dropped a set in his third-round clash with David Goffin but was in no mood to repeat that against Londero, who is making his debut in Paris this year.
He managed one break of the Nadal serve to claw his way back from 4-1 to 4-3 down in the third set but that was as good as it got.
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