Then Federer did what Federer does. He raised his game to a level that most of his opponents are simply incapable of equally, Simon among them. His forehands went deep into corners. His lobs drifted over a helpless Simon’s head. His backhand was — well — his backhand, whizzing past a beaten Simon. Federer even deployed a drop shot or two. In the end, the result was exactly what was expected — a victory — if not exactly the way it was supposed to go, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. On paper, at least, his quarterfinal match should be even tougher. There, Federer will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the tournament’s sixth seed.
Federer’s results have inevitably started to wane with age. But Federer has not failed to reach the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam event since the 2004 French Open, a streak of 36 majors in which he has been in the final eight men. This was the 900th match victory of Federer’s career, making him just one of four men in history to hit that mark, and putting him behind only Jimmy Connors (1,156), Ivan Lendl (1,068) and Guillermo Vilas (940) on the all-time list. More significant to Federer, though is this: the victory secured his 40th trip to a Grand Slam quarterfinal, as astounding measure of his consistency.
Until Federer went down, he appeared as routinely invulnerable as that record would suggest. In the first set, he hit a forehand from deep in the right corner that curved around the net post like a capital C for a winner to give him a set point that he converted to win the first set, 6-1.
But with the two on serve, and Simon serving to go to 3-all in the second set, Federer’s right foot appeared to catch in the dirt as he moved to his left. He went down hard on both knees. Simon held, and in the next game, Federer was broken for the first time in the match to go down 3-4. What might have seemed to be just a hiccup when Federer dropped the second set — the first set he’d lost in the tournament — became a full-blown crises when he was broken at love in the third set to give Simon a 3-2 lead. Then, he hit a weak forehand volley into the net to be broken again, giving Simon a 5-2 lead.
With Federer trailing, something startling happened. The Paris crowd began rooting for a comeback against one of their own. Federer has won here just once, in 2009, but as the light began to fade, it was as if Federer’s faithful wanted to will him to go on at least a few hours longer. In the fourth set, with his wife covering her face in nervousness, Federer hit a forehand deep into a corner to finally break Simon again, to take a 4-2 lead. Federer pumped his fist and the fans roared for him. And when Simon hit a backhand into the net to lose his serve — and the fourth set — again, the tennis universe seemed to steady on its axis. After that, it surprised absolutely nobody when Simon hit a forehand long on a Federer break point to give Federer a 2-0 lead in the fifth, making the final outcome merely a matter of time. By then, the crowd was again exhorting Simon. But when Federer finally prevailed, when Simon’s backhand was pushed wide, Federer raised his racket in victory. Even Simon smiled.
Tsonga cruised over Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Tsonga has not dropped a set in Paris.
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