Swiss tennis master, Roger Federer hardly made a mistake on Thursday night against Kevin Anderson in the Miami Open 2019.
The three-time Miami champion was in top form during his 6-0, 6-4 rout versus the sixth seed and looks like the man to beat heading into the final weekend of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
Federer brought the cheeky net skills, the crafty slices from side to side and the attacking mindset, and it was all far too much for Anderson, who could not replicate his 2018 Wimbledon comeback and fell to 1-6 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against the 27-time Masters 1000 champion.
The 37-year-old Federer moves into his seventh Miami semi-final and 65th final four at a Masters 1000 event. Next, instead of an experienced veteran like the 32-year-old Anderson, he’ll meet someone who spent his childhood watching the Swiss in 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov.
The Canadian came back from a set down for the third time this tournament to win a #NextGenATP battle against beat 21-year-old American Frances Tiafoe 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2. Both players have competed at the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan. The semi-final will be the first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between Shapovalov and Federer.
It was a menacing start for Anderson, who served first. The South African looked ruffled and overhit a backhand long to hand Federer the break.
Coming into the quarter-final, he had been broken only three times (34/37): against Spain’s Jaume Munar, Portugal’s No. 1 Joao Sousa and Jordan Thompson of Australia. But Federer would break Anderson many times in the opening set alone.
Federer landed only 38 per cent of his first serves, however, he defended his second serve without problems. Anderson recovered from the 26-minute opening set and the 0-6, 0-2 deficit, breaking Federer to get back on serve at 3-3 in the second.
But the pressure mounted once more at 4-4, and, after a marathon 14-minute game, Federer shows off his craftiness once more. The Swiss cuts a slice return to Anderson’s forehand wing and hit, but misses wide, and Federer had his fifth and final break.