There were some who reckoned he was vulnerable going into yesterday's quarter-final against his Swiss compatriot, Stanislas Wawrinka, given the world No. 2 had given up four sets and been broken nine times in five matches. So, after a first-round stroll to bat away Lukas Lacko, a desperate, five-setter against Gilles Simon in round two, another quick workout over Xavier Malisse and a minor dip in getting past Tommy Robredo in four sets, the Swiss took his revenge on the field and the critics by beating up his friend, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in an hour an 47 minutes, just three minutes longer than Andy Murray took to beat JŸrgen Melzer the day before. The evidence for Federer's decline might not have been totally compelling but it was there; now, one win way from reaching the final, he looks awesome again.
"I'm not quite there yet," he said, acknowledging that his tennis is getting more attacking by the game. "I prefer to play aggressive. I don't overdo it either, because that's not the point, just storming to the net, hit clean winners on every shot. It's about building up the right plays and having the right game plan. That's what I seem like I'm having." He said earlier in the week, "I don't care about unforced errors," after making 40 of them (including 14 in the set he lost) against Robredo, an imperfect performance that encouraged his rivals to imagine the owner of 16 grand slams might not be in the best shape to grab his 17th.
