Australian Open: Roger Federer follows Novak Djokovic into the third round
Roger Federer reached the third round at the Australian Open 2020. In the middle of the second set, the Swiss ultimately prevailed with 6: 1, 6: 4 and 6: 1 against Filip Krajinovic.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 22, 2020, 12:37 pm
In his second competition game of the year, Federer made a strong impression against the Serbian Davis Cup player - especially until the 2: 0 in the second set. Until then, Federer seemed to be sailing towards lap three like on an autopilot, but Krajinovic found the match better after that. And managed the rebreak to 4: 4. Federer shook briefly, taking the advantage back in the following game. Krajinovic acknowledged the new break by chopping a racket, Federer in turn served without problems for the 2-0 set lead.
In set three, the 38-year-old put on an early break again, Filip Krajinovic had the physiotherapist called. The recent loss of 1: 4 impact sealed the fate of the man residing in Belgrade. After 91 minutes of play and another loss of service by Filip Krajinovic, the haunt came to an end from the Serbian outsider's perspective.
McEnroe interviews Federer
So Roger Federer ended the day in the Rod Laver Arena with the expected sense of achievement, Novak Djokovic had secured his a few hours earlier with a safe victory against Tatsuma Ito. The lower half of the tableau opened a bit on Wednesday, especially for Federer. His potential quarter-final opponent Matteo Berrettini lost in five sets against Tennys Sandgren as well as Grigor Dimitrov against Tommy Paul from the USA. In the third round, Federer meets local hero John Millman on Friday, against whom he lost in four sets at the 2018 US Open. At that time, he almost collapsed, according to Federer - while Millman wouldn't have minded the oppressive sultry.
He feels very relaxed on the court, Federer said after the match in an on-court interview with John McEnroe. He would have felt a little pity for his opponent because Krajinovic had had to play for three and a half hours on Tuesday. And not even a minute. With his opponent's high serve rate - Krajinovic put 90 percent of his first serve in the first two sets - he had no problems. Especially since the courts this year are a little slower than in the past.
Here is the men's individual tableau at the Australian Open
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