Federer used to be one emotional guy. He’d cry. He’d yell. He used to smash racquets. But these days, Federer has become positively Swedish, or at least Borgian, in his emotions. He calmly plays one point after the next. True, when he hits a good shot, he’s still prone to a brief emotional outburst, but that’s about it.
So far, Federer has yet to drop a set in the tournament and tonight’s match with Jurgen Melzer was no different. Melzer tried to outhit Federer, using power to achieve his aims. And, at times, he’d get a break here or there only to see Federer break back, or clip the net to win a lucky point. Federer’s striking the ball pretty well. You can tell when he chooses not to run around his backhand and hit it once in a while.
Melzer tried dropshotting Federer a fair bit. He did it successfully against Djokovic back in the French Open, but was less successful against the Fed and Fed would drop shot him. In one rally, Fed hit a short slice, and Melzer crept forward to hit it. Then Fed hit a deep backhand and Melzer was pushed back to deal with it. Then, Fed drop-shotted, realizing Melzer had just been pushed backwards and his momentum wasn’t moving in the right direction. That’s Fed for you.
The second set was the closest as both players kept holding serve. The final score was 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3. Melzer was the third lefty that Federer has played. Both Dabul and Andreas Beck are lefties, as is, of course, Melzer. If Federer is to play Nadal, he’ll certainly have had a lot of practice against the best lefties in the world. Nadal is likely to play a few lefties too, including Feliciano Lopez in the next round, and potentially Verdasco in the following round.
Federer’s first serious match will be his quarterfinal encounter with Robin Soderling. Seems like they always meet up. Last year, Fed played Soderling in the French, at Wimbledon, and at the US Open. This year, Soderling didn’t get very far in the Australian, but met Fed in the French Open (losing to him). Soderling did play Nadal at Wimbledon, but he’s back playing Federer for the US Open.
Soderling’s style, hard-hitting with a big serve, is usually enough to topple most players. This is one reason he goes pretty deep in Slams until he faces a player that can handle his power, which usually means encountering a top seed, and lately, that means Nadal or Federer.
Federer would love to play his best against Soderling. Certainly, he’s playing better than at the French, so the question is whether Soderling is playing well or not. At this point, given their head-to-head, I’d still give it to Fed to win this.
Tomorrow, Wawrinka and Querrey play around 1 PM, while Nadal and Lopez play the evening match. Youzhny and Robredo play an early match while Ferrer and Verdasco play late afternoon.
