Federer Breezes Into Roland Garros QF

For a self-described “outsider” at Roland Garros, Roger Federer sure has been playing like one of the favourites in Paris.

The third seed won his 12th set in a row on Sunday, beating Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final in 11 months (Wimbledon, l. to Anderson) and return to the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the first time since 2015, the last time Federer played at the clay-court major. 

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The Swiss is through to his 12^thRoland Garros quarter-final and 54^th overall at a Grand Slam, the latter of which extends his record.

At 37 years 305 days, Federer is also the third-oldest man to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in the Open Era. The 2009 titlist will meet Stan Wawrinka or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight. Wawrinka beat Federer in the 2015 quarter-finals.

Mayer trailed Federer 0-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but the two had never played on the Argentine’s favourite surface of clay. and Mayer held five match points against Federer during their 2014 Shanghai meeting. But during his return to clay this year, Federer has looked as comfortable as anyone, a trend that continued on Sunday.

The Swiss broke in the opening game with a backhand winner down the line, and the fist pumps flowed from there. Federer converted five of his 10 break points and never faced a break point on his serve.

Federer lost to Tsitsipas, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion, in the Australian Open fourth round, but Federer evened their FedEx ATP Head2Head series with a straight-sets win in the Dubai final for his 100th title.

Federer leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Wawrinka 22-3, but all three of Wawrinka’s wins have come on clay: 2015 Roland Garros and 2014, 2009 Monte-Carlo.