Federer in top form as Robredo is next victim
WORLD No1 Roger Federer continued his devastating form as he cruised into the last eight of the US Open last night with a comfortable victory over Tommy Robredo at Flushing Meadows.
The five-time defending champion never looked in danger as he cruised to a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 win in the Arthur Ashe Stadium to book a quarter-final clash with Robin Soderling in a repeat of this year’s French Open final.
Robredo failed to breach the Federer serve throughout but held his own in a tight first set until the champion decisively broke in the 11th game.
From then on there was only one winner as Federer outclassed the Spaniard, securing back-to-back breaks in each of the next two sets.
Soderling earned his tie with Federer after eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko quit their fourth round clash with a thigh injury when 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 behind.
But the Swede will need to up his game if he is to cause a major Grand Slam shock – his head-to-head record against Federer reads: Played 11, Lost 11.
Meanwhile, the giant-killing run of Melanie Oudin in the women’s event continued as she fought back to earn a 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 victory over 13th seed Nadia Petrova.
Oudin, ranked 70 in the world, has already come back from behind to beat Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova so far in this tournament and could face another Russian in Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last eight should she beat Caroline Wozniacki, of Denmark, in her fourth round match.
Kateryna Bondarenko exacted family revenge as she recorded a famous ‘double-bagel’ defeat of Ukraine’s Gisela Dulko, 6-0, 6-0, to avenge sister Alona’s defeat at the hands of the same player in round two.
Bondarenko now faces 19-year-old Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the last eight after she won a tight battle against Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.