NEW YORK: Roger Federer advanced to the US Open quarter-finals for the 13th time in his past 15 attempts last night by defeating Belgian 15th seed David Goffin 6-2, 6-2, 6-0.
The 38-year-old Swiss third seed, trying to stretch his men’s Grand Slam record title total to 21, took only 79 minutes to book a quarter-final berth against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov who edged out Australia’s Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in a late night match.
“It was great. I thought I had a good feeling out here,” Federer said. “David didn’t have his best day either, he was struggling.”
Federer’s victory kept him on a semi-final collision course with top-seeded defending champion Novak Djokovic, who plays the night feature match at Arthur Ashe Stadium against three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss 23rd seed.
Crowns
Serbia’s Djokovic, a 16-time Grand Slam champion who has captured four of the past five Slam crowns, is 19-5 against Wawrinka but they have not played since the Swiss defeated Djokovic in the 2016 US Open final.
Federer, who improved to 9-1 in his career rivalry with Goffin, is 7-0 lifetime against 78th-ranked Dimitrov but has never faced 38th-ranked De Minaur.
Earlier, Nick Kyrgios’ eventful campaign ended in the third round as Russian Andrey Rublev turned aside the fiery Australian 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 6-3 in a battle of big servers.
Rublev looked up to the task from the start and proved to be unflappable against Kyrgios, who complained to his team in the box several times about not being able to see and later said he took time adjusting to the massive Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, progressed to the last 16 at the US Open for the first time in another late match on Saturday with a hard-fought 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) win over Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene.
Sixth seed Zverev, who came through a pair of five-set matches in his first two rounds, is on course for a potential quarter-final with three-time champion Rafael Nadal.