rogerfederer.com - Roger in fourth round

Roger in fourth round

Roger defeated Marat Safin 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to register his 51st grass court win in a row and will now face experienced German Tommy Haas, who put out Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, for a quarter-final spot.

"I don't know if I played phenomenal, I just think I played the right way against Marat today," said Roger. "I really kept the balls in play, served well when I had to, moved well, returned pretty good."

The world number one broke in the fourth game of the first set and a combination of some over-hitting on the groundstrokes by Safin and some tricky changes of speed by Roger allowed the him to steam to a convincing lead. Safin fought back early in the second and even broke serve. But the defending champion seemed unperturbed. He broke back immediately and again in the seventh game, prompting some characteristic racket-throwing from the volatile Russian before Roger nailed the set with an ace. The third set went with serve and in the tiebreak Safin's forehand volley into the net gave Roger a mini-break and he served out the remainder to take it 7-4.

"I was very pleased with the performance because I knew the danger against Marat," concluded Roger.