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Roger Federer has kept his dreams of an 18th grand slam title alive, progressing to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a five-set win over Kei Nishikori.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Roger Federer 6 6 6 4 6
Kei Nishikori 7 4 1 6 3
A rejuvenated Roger Federer will be out to book a spot in the Australian Open quarter-finals when he takes on Japanese superstar and fifth seed Kei Nishikori in what promises to be a cracker. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7pm (AEDT).
Federer hadn’t been sighted since Wimbledon last year, with injuries ruining the end of his 2016 season. He has come back to his best in quick time this year, with the veteran racing through to the fourth round.
After starting out at the Hopman Cup and being his usual dominant self, he has only dropped a single set at the Open and that came as a massive shock.
During the first round against Jurgen Melzer, Federer dropped the second set but it seemed he was just shaking off some rust because in the eight sets he has played since then it has been nothing but dominance all over the court.
His win against Thomas Berdych on Friday night was absolutely scintillating with Federer winning in every area of the court, playing fantastic defence and being a picture of consistency across the straight-sets demolition.
Nishikori, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the most thorough players on the tour, his defence and patience being second only to the top two in the world.
The one area Nishikori does lack is power, and it could come back to haunt him as it did in the final of the Brisbane International against Grigor Dimitrov where the Japanese star started his season.
Federer’s backhand was on fire against Berdych, and it seems the only way Nishikori will stay in it when that goes off is to fight fire with fire, and ride out the important phases of the match.
Nishikori himself will pose threats and ever since a scare in the first round when he was taken to five sets by Andrey Kuznetsov, he has been dominant in disposing of Jeremy Chardy and Lukas Lacko in straight sets.
The pair have had six previous matches, with Federer controlling the ledger 4-2. That includes all of their last three meetings for the Fed Express, who has beaten Nishikori twice on the hard court in the last three years at the ATP Tour finals.
Nishikori’s two victories came in 2013 and 2014, at Madrid on clay and Miami on the hard court respectively, but the pair haven’t played since the end of 2015.
The winner will go on to the quarter-finals and book a meeting with either the world No.1 Andy Murray or Mischa Zverev.
Prediction
This match promises to be an absolute cracker. Federer is working his way into some good form though, and with all the experience in the world should be able to come through with a victory in what could be one of the matches of the tournament.
Federer in five sets
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this mouth-watering match from 7pm (AEDT) on Rod Laver Arena and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde