Four-time champion Roger Federer enjoyed a night of phenomenal serving to post his tenth straight win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday and set up a quarter-final against Mikhail Youzhny.
The Swiss made sure he did not blink on serve knowing how difficult his lefty opponent is to break and his strategy paid dividends as he completed a 7-5, 6-3 win over Lopez in 75 minutes.
“It was difficult. I obviously played Feliciano many, many times way back then but I’ve never played him when he was ranked so high and potentially so confident,” said Federer, who fired 12 aces and hit 70 per cent of his first serves in.
“It was tough getting used to his serve early on. I wasn’t having many looks. He was serving aces left and right.”
Earlier in the day, an improved Andy Murray enjoyed an easier victory than his first round match, as the Scot beat Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets to move on to the quarter-finals.
Despite the hot conditions, Murray said he felt much better on court as he delivered a straight forward 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Swiss veteran, without facing a single break point throughout the 82-minute contest.
“I definitely played better. I still wasn’t moving as good as I would have liked, but served well,” said Murray, who played his first round match with an upset stomach.
Murray plays No5 seed Tomas Berdych in the last-eight after the Czech cruised past Slovak qualifier Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-2.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the last to book his spot and the Frenchman’s easy 6-3, 6-4 win over Lukas Rosol means that seven of the top eight seeds have made it through to the quarter-finals.
He faces Argentine Juan Martin del Potro who eased past qualifier Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-2.
