Melbourne, Australia, Jan 22: Roger Federer put on a tennis clinic for the benefit of Bernard Tomic, using deft drops, lobs, booming backhands and 13 aces to beat the 19-year-old Australian 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the eighth straight year.
Tomic came into the match following an upset third-round win over 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, using slices and a variety of offbeat shots from the back of the court to beat the Ukrainian player.
But four-time Australian champion Federer was having none of that on Sunday night before a packed house of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena.
He stepped up his game when he needed to, breaking the Australian at 4-4 in the opening set and again to open the third.
