MELBOURNE—Even though Tomas Berdych has lost against Roger Federer in their past four meetings, the Czech believes that he can take down the Swiss in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Head to head, Federer has taken 15 of 21 matches against Berdych. However, the 30-year-old upset the great Swiss in the 2010 Wimbledon quarterfinals and the 2012 U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Federer took Berdych down at the 2008 and 2009 Australian Opens, and last year he beat him in Indian Wells, Rome and at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Berdych said that the 34-year-old played extremely well in 2015.
“He's become a very, very dangerous opponent, as always he is,” Berdych said. “It's always difficult to say something else or something new. I mean, it's Roger, so it's always going to be a huge challenge to play him. It's the quarterfinal of a Slam. I like it. I like my chances. I'm just looking forward to that match.”
Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion who hasn’t won the Australian Open title since 2010, said that the court is pretty fast.
Berdych reached the semifinal in Melbourne in 2015, falling to Andy Murray. Federer was stunned by Andreas Seppi in the third round last season.
“I think this sort of flatter bounce and faster court is good for his serves, good for his returns,” Federer said. “It's a fast court. I think for his kind of game, it's good. I matched up well against him as of late. Then again, we haven't played that much. He played very well here last year in exactly these conditions. I was very impressed how [Berdych] played against Nick [Kyrgios].
"I didn't see that much against [Roberto] Bautista Agut. It was about switching to a different court, [in the] day session [and] beating a different kind of player. [Berdych] beat him in five sets, which gives him a lot of confidence, even though maybe the score line doesn't suggest that. I would assume he's exactly where he wants to be, and he'll recover and make it a tough match for me, no doubt about it.
"We're both going to play aggressive. This court pays off when you do play good and aggressive tennis.”