Shanghai, Oct 10:
Roger Federer looked unusually flustered as he reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters today with victory over Belgium’s David Goffin.
The 13th-seed Goffin squandered five set points in the first set before the Swiss superstar pulled through 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 in just under two hours.
The 38-year-old plays Germany’s Alexander Zverev or Andrey Rublev in the last eight.
Third-ranked Federer and Goffin had played one another 10 times before, with the Belgian winning only once.
But he had the 20-time Grand Slam winner rattled and shaking his head in the first set.
Federer, regularly serenaded by chants of “Roger, Roger, go go go” by local supporters, had a rare inelegant moment in the 12th game, slipping on some of his own sweat. (Agencies)
Follow our WhatsApp channel