Kei Nishikori has rarely made his life this easy at a Grand Slam. For only the fourth time in his career, the eighth-seeded Japanese has dropped only one set or less en route to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.

Nishikori has become synonymous with marathon battles at majors. He’s reached the quarter-finals of a Slam on 12 occasions, but often becomes tangled in five-setters en route to the last eight, zapping him of energy before the crux of the major.

There’s been no drama this fortnight, though. The 29-year-old has dropped only one set through four rounds and has spent less than nine hours on the court (8:31).

It’s a stark contrast to his campaigns this year at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. He weathered three five-set matches in Melbourne and back-to-back five-setters in Paris. By the time he got to the quarter-finals, there was nothing left in the tank. An exhausted Nishikori retired with a right leg injury against Novak Djokovic in Melbourne and won only five games against Rafael Nadal in Paris.

“I think I have to keep trying to work to finish [in] straight sets, but that means I’m maybe not good enough tennis-wise and also mentally. So I just keep working,” Nishikori said after his loss to Nadal. “That’s going to be the next step because I’m always stuck in the quarter-finals in Grand Slams. I think the next goal is to be in the semi-finals or final. I know it’s not going to be easy because I’ve probably got to beat someone from the top three [in the ATP Rankings] and I think they are dominating still.”

Nishikori Reaching A Grand Slam QF

Nishikori will again face a member of the Big Three on Wednesday when he stares across the net at eight-time champion Roger Federer for a place in the semi-finals. The Swiss leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-3, although Nishikori won their last meeting at the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals.

“I’m sure it’s going to be tough, but I feel like I am very confident this week, playing good tennis,” Nishikori said on Monday after beating Mikhail Kukushkin.

The 2014 US Open finalist has played efficiently all tournament, shortening points and conserving energy. Nishikori has made 111 trips to net and won 85 of them (76%). He’s also increased the pace on his shots, ripping 132 winners to 101 errors. Nishikori has hit more winners than errors in all of his matches so far at The Championships.

Coming to net more often has been a focal point for Nishikori and his team. “We’ve been working on that for years. Sometimes he does it more than others, sometimes he has chances to do it more than others,” coach Dante Bottini told ATPTour.com. “I like it when he comes forward… He has great volleys, great touch.”

Former World No. 2 Michael Chang, Nishikori’s other coach, said his pupil’s all-court game, including his net play, might be his best asset.

“What’s great about Kei’s game is that he can play from anywhere on the court now,” Chang told ATPTour.com. “Obviously he’s known for hitting great forehands and backhands. He’s got a very good serve, obviously that can still be improved. He wins a lot of points at net. He’s a great volleyer. He’s a great transitional player from defence to offence or offence to defence.”

Nishikori has reached the quarter-finals of every Grand Slam, but is 3-8 when he gets there and has cleared that hurdle only at the US Open. It takes a top player to beat him, though. Six of his eight Grand Slam quarter-final defeats have come to Djokovic, Nadal or Andy Murray.

Read More: Clutch Kei Reigning Again In 2019

For Nishikori to get over the hump more often, Chang said, his pupil should try showing more emotion.

“I know it’s not necessarily in his nature to do that, but if you look at players who maybe on the outset, maybe their personalities aren’t necessarily like that, but when it comes right down to it, and the moments are there, it comes out. Tennis just does that to you. There’s no question,” Chang said.

“If you look at Kei’s big matches he has won in the past, it’s been there… I think having a little bit of that can certainly only help him.”

Federer and Nishikori have met at a Grand Slam only once, in the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open. The Swiss won in five sets, a rare blow to Nishikori’s all-time best deciding-set record. The Japanese has won 75 per cent (132-45) of his deciding sets, best in the Open Era, according to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone.

See Who’s Chasing Nishikori For All-Time Best Deciding Set Record

“I’m happy to be playing Roger now because I think I’m in good shape now,” Nishikori said. “I know it’s not going to be easy, but I will enjoy for sure.”

After beating Matteo Berrettini in just 74 minutes in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday, Roger Federer was congratulated by the 17th seed’s coach.

“His coach congratulated me and thanked me almost. I was like, ‘Why?’” Federer said. “He was like, ‘It’s good for him to get a lesson.’ You guys are a bit tough [I told him], but I get it. I like the Italians.”

Berrettini entered the match with more grass-court wins in 2019 (12) than anyone else on the ATP Tour. But he was never able to find an opening against Federer, earning only one break point in the match.

“[What is] important is that he’s not too disappointed, because he’s had a great run. It’s important for him to look ahead. There’s so many great moments coming in his career,” Federer said. “I lost sometimes the hard way.”

The first match that came to mind for the 37-year-old was at the 2001 US Open, when he was 20. Federer lost in 83 minutes against former World No. 1 Andre Agassi.

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“I thought like, Oh, maybe I was going to take Andre out, all that stuff. Nah. You get smashed, go home, don’t understand what happened,” Federer recalled. “You realise, ‘Well, I’ve just got to work harder.’ It’s that simple. Maybe got to have a different tactic, maybe got to have a different mindset going into that.”

The following year, Federer was scheduled to play Belarusian Max Mirnyi in a fourth-round encounter in Flushing Meadows. The pair had to wait 10 hours to get onto a court because of rain.

“They sent me out at 11 p.m. Court 7, lost in straight sets, went to McDonald’s at 2 in the morning,” Federer remembered. “You’re like, ‘What happened?’”

At the time, Federer was still on the rise. The Swiss owned just three ATP Tour trophies, and he was unable to break Mirnyi’s serve once.

“I beat him in straight sets and I didn’t think much of him. I walked off the court winning in straight sets and thought, ‘Who’s next?’… it was incredible that less than a year later, the guy was winning Wimbledon,” Mirnyi told ATPTour.com.

Federer learned from those moments. The Swiss was not immune from disappointment. But the same way Federer was able to overcome those mental hurdles, he hopes Berrettini does the same despite falling short of making his first Grand Slam quarter-final.

“Some losses you can’t explain. [What is] important is that, especially in those moments when you lost extremely hard, had high expectations, you really get taken down, is that [is] when you take a major step forward,” Federer said. “It’s okay to take a step back, but then you have to take two forward. I hope that’s what he does exactly from today on.”

Berrettini was seen as a potentially dangerous opponent for Federer, as the Italian took plenty of confidence into their match from his success this year on grass, and he also has weapons in his serve and forehand. But it seemed that Federer could do little wrong on Centre Court, making only five unforced errors in the match.

“In a game [like] today where you almost start feeling whatever you’re going to do is somehow going to work out, you almost can’t explain what it is. Am I reading the opponent well? Am I just feeling good on the day? I have no other thoughts than maybe the next point. Enjoying the crowd support. Everything is just sort of pink, it’s just happy out there. It just feels nice,” Federer said. “Then you rock up to a ball. You’re like, ‘I know I’m not going to miss one.’ You hit a winner. Then you do the same again and again. That’s probably one of the best feelings you can get as a tennis player on a tennis court.”

Argentina’s Guido Pella has made a name for himself on the ATP Tour with his clay-court success, but at this rate, Pella will soon be well-known for his grass-court results as well.

The 26^th seed upset another former Wimbledon finalist on Monday, beating 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 8-6 to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final. The 29-year-old Pella knocked out last year’s finalist and fourth seed Kevin Anderson in the third round, and the left-hander found a way to break Raonic’s serve to get past the fourth round at SW19.

The 15th-seeded Raonic didn’t face a break point in the first two sets and served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth set. But Pella broke him for the second time in the match and pulled away in the tie-break. Raonic erased three match points while serving in the fifth set – 4-5, Ad Out; 5-6, 15/40 – before Pella broke through when the Canadian sliced a backhand volley into the net.

Before this fortnight, Pella had never reached the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam. He won his first ATP Tour title at the Rio Open presented by Claro in February and is tied with Rafael Nadal for the Tour lead in clay-court wins (21).

But Pella made the third round of Wimbledon last year after upsetting 2016 finalist Marin Cilic in the second round, when he also came back from two sets to zero down.

Pella will next meet Roberto Bautista Agut, the No. 23 seed, who competed with great service consistency to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time — equalling his best Grand Slam championship performance (also 2019 Australian Open). The Spaniard beat 28^th seed Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 52 minutes. Bautista Agut won the first four games of the third set.

Paire later admitted, “I have a tear in my abdominal, so I tried to serve like 60-70 per cent, but it’s tough. When you play against Bautista Agut, it’s not easy.”

Bautista Agut leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Pella 2-0, but they’ve never met on grass.