Federer dials up heat to contain Fucsovics; into Melbourne final eight

For a little over a half hour on Sunday night, Roger Federer found himself being outplayed in his fourth-round match at the Australian Open. After losing the first set to Marton Fucsovics, the six-time champion quickly flipped the switch—and shut down any idea of a second consecutive round-of-16 exit at Melbourne Park—with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

"It took some time. I was looking to mix it up a little more," Federer told John McEnroe on-court afterwards. "It's really slow in the night time especially when it's cool like this. Just have to figure it out and I finally found a way. I had a good start to the second set, and from then on, things got a bit easier."

A year ago, Federer saw his bid for a third consecutive title ended by an inspired Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 38-year-old is 14-0 in his quarterfinal matches at the Happy Slam, and will aim to extend the perfect mark against American Tennys Sandgren in a first-time meeting. The 100th-ranked Sandgren overcame Fabio Fognini in four feisty sets on Melbourne Arena.

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Federer defeated Fucsovics at this very stage two years ago Down Under, but the Hungarian entered in prime form, having ousted No. 13 seed Denis Shapovalov and Next Gen ATP Finals winner Jannik Sinner, before crushing Tommy Paul to reach week two. On the other hand, Federer narrowly arrived at this juncture, rallying from 8-4 down in a decisive match tiebreaker to squeak past home favorite John Millman in a night-session extravaganza.

"It was a tough start. I thought that Marton played clean," Federer said. "I struggled, I guess with the Millman match, the guy gave me a beatdown from the baseline, so maybe it took my confidence away, a little bit."

Playing in cool conditions, which Federer later described as "frosty", the unseeded Fuscovics was firing with his forehand early. It aided in securing the first break of the match in the seventh game, when a potent strike proved too much for the world No. 3 to handle. Though Fucsovics clinched the one-set lead with relative ease, the Swiss sat down on his bench with a positive takeaway: his net approaches were flourishing, as he won 10 of 11 in the set.

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Federer soon applied that same level of aggression to his baseline striking, ramping up his forehand to take time away from his opponent. In grabbing more control of the exchanges, Federer in turn put Fucsovics on his back foot, and the Hungarian struggled to adapt, finding just two winners in the second set. Federer claimed 10 of 12 games, and though he lost one of his breaks in the third set, it was a minor blip in his ability to contain the 27-year-old and pull away completely.

The 20-time major champion wrapped up the victory in two hours and 11 minutes, finishing with 44 winners to 36 unforced errors, and an 84 percent success rate at net. Fucsovics ended with a -20 differential.