In their 4th round clash at the Championships, Wimbledon, at the Centre Court, against Roger Federer, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini did not have any chance, did he? As the Swiss maestro, 8-time Wimbledon champion, displaying a dominant, effortless and ruthless display of breathtaking tennis, breezed past his opponent 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in just 1 hour and 14 minutes to enter into the quarter-finals at the All England Club for a staggering 17th time in his career so far.
In the round of last 8, the 20-time Grand Slam champion will meet an upbeat Kei Nishikori, who will play in his 5th consecutive Major quarter-final when he steps out on courts on Wednesday. Just as the World No.3 and 2nd seed Federer, Nishikori has dropped just a single set en route his appearance in the quarter- finals this year at Wimbledon, showing signs of tremendous consistency.
Federer succumbed to Kevin Anderson sensationally at last year’s Wimbledon at the quarter-finals after gaining a 2-0 set lead to slowly crumble in five sets and would be wary of his Japanese opponent in the quarter-finals, fully aware about what Nishikori can bring to the table in their upcoming encounter at the All England Club.
Head to Head Record
The duo of Federer and Nishikori have stood on the opposite sides of the net on 10 occasions in the past with Federer leading their head to head tally by a margin of 7-3. However, in their latest encounter, it was Kei Nishikori who edged past Federer in straight sets 7-6(7-4), 6-3 in their round-robin clash at Nitto ATP finals in 2018 and that win for Nishikori also halted Federer’s six-match winning streak over his Japanese opponent.
In their only meeting on grass, Federer and Nishikori met in the semi-finals at Halle, back in 2014 and Federer was the victor of that battle which ended in straight-sets 6-3, 7-6(7-4) in favour of the Swiss maestro.
Federer at Wimbledon quarter-finals
Roger Federer
The Swiss maestro, who played in his first ever Wimbledon quarter-final after securing a sensational 5-set victory over legendary Pete Sampras in his 4th round contest, way back in 2001, has gone to play in the round of last 8 on 15 more occasions at SW19 in his illustrious career so far. Till date, Federer has an overwhelming 12-4 win-loss record at Wimbledon quarter-finals and lush green lawns at the All England Club are like his second home, enjoying a monumental, colossal amount of success at the Championships throughout his glittering career. However, given that, coincidentally his latest casualty at his beloved Grand Slam has been at the quarter-final stages, losing to South Africa’s Anderson in 2018.
Kei Nishikori at Wimbledon quarter-finals
Kei Kishikori
For the 29-year old Nishikori, this is just the 2nd instance when he finds himself as one of the quarter-finalist at Wimbledon. In 2018, in his first appearance in the quarter-finals at the All England Club, Novak Djokovic’s 4-set victory brought an end to Nishikori’s Wimbledon dream and the World’s 7th ranked player would hope to overcome the quarter-final challenge this time around when he meets the Swiss maestro in their upcoming clash.
Nishikori suffered the fate of unceremonious exits at the quarter-final stages at both the previous Grand Slam Majors when he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the French Open and had to retire mid-match owing to apparent leg-injury at the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic earlier this year and would hope for a massive turnaround in his fortunes when he takes court in his quarter-final clash.
It is true that Kei Nishikori has looked in good form and has spent less time on courts thus far at Wimbledon, unlike Australian Open and Roland Garros where he seemed exhausted in his quarter-final clash owing to long matches he played in the lead up to the round of last eight, however, he faces an uphill task in the form of Roger Federer and latter is in pristine form and like his major rivals Nadal and Djokovic, has given us an impression of being invincible and unbeatable so far at this year’s Wimbledon.
Can Federer, putting on display his dominant self, cruise past his Japanese challenger to reach one step closer towards his unprecedented 9th Wimbledon crown and 21st Grand Slam title or will Nishikori, drawing some inspiration from his sensational win over Djokovic in the semi-finals at the 2014 US Open, stun Federer to book a spot in the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time ever in his career?
An interesting, fascinating yet unpredictable contest awaits us on day 9 of the Championships, Wimbledon 2019.
