Federer in commanding form over Aussie novice Tomic

By Bill Scott Jan 22, 2012, 10:21 GMT

Melbourne - Roger Federer brought local tennis hopes back to reality on Sunday night with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 schooling of future star Bernard Tomic to march into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

The 38th-ranked Queensland teenager fought bravely but could not match the Swiss third seed who is hunting a fifth Melbourne title. Federer overwhelmed Tomic in less than one and three-quarter hours.

Federer and next faces a confrontation with Argentine Juan Del Potro, who reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final since winning the US Open in 2009 as he beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

Federer backed up his Davis Cup win over Tomic with 13 aces and 45 winners to leave the challenger with a valuable tennis lesson. The consistent Swiss has not missed a Grand Slam quarter-final since 2004, a run of 31 straight.

'I played as really good match, I knew I had to,' said Federer. 'Anything else would not have done the job. The score suggests otherwise but I had to work extra hard to win this match.

'It was like boxing at the start, no one wanted to take too many chances. But I started to feel my game better and suddenly I was up a break.'

Rafael Nadal continued his friendly stranglehold on Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 thrashing.

Nadal, seeded second, has never lost a set on hard court to Lopez in four matches and leads their overall series 9-2.

'It's positive winning in three sets,' said Nadal, adding: 'The most positive thing is feeling positive during all the tournament and happy about how I am playing and enjoying the tournament. I'm in the quarter-finals. That's very good news.'

Nadal advanced with four aces, 20 winners and 14 unforced errors, breaking on five of 18 chances.

The 10-times Grand Slam winner has stalled at the quarter-final stage in Melbourne at the last two editions and will try to correct that when he faces seventh seed Tomas Berdych, who beat Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2).

The winner refused to shake hands and got booed after the Spaniard tagged him with a ball during play.

Heroic women's holder Kim Clijsters staged a fightback to win a fourth-round repeat of last year's final, saving four match points and toughing out an ankle injury to stun Li Na 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

The 11th-seeded Clijsters, who only recovered from a January hip strain, looked done as she rolled her ankle in the seventh game of the opening set, but got it taped and somehow ploughed through the 61-minute set.

'(Quitting) definitely crossed my mind at some point, but I knew if I could let the medication sink in, if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then, maybe with the adrenaline, I could just fly through it.

'I did, and I'm happy that I didn't give up.'

The 28-year-old then saved four Li match points in the second set tiebreaker to break the Chinese spirit on the New Year weekend.

'It doesn't matter (if the match was) close or far away. In the end I lost the match. I think I was pretty not bad today,' said a tearful Li.

'I can't believe I won'' said Clijsters. 'This will be my last time at the Open and I didn't want to quit. You never know what goes on at other side of the net.'

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki held of a late attack from former number one Jelena Jankovic to defeat the Serb 6-0, 7-5.

'My confidence is high and my fitness if fine,' said the Dane. 'My play is improving. It was all very positive.

'I played a great set and a half before she started to play really well and cut down my margin. I'm happy to be through.'

Third seed Victoria Azarenka defeated Czech Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2 while Polish eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska crushed German Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-1.