I was rather hoping Melzer would put up more of a fight last night. He seems to go to pieces when it is RF on the other side of the net.

Melzer played amazing tennis, he would have beaten any other player with same level of play, but not roger.
well played melzer.

Sabs-
Ummmmmmm....are you a comedian or just plain stupid. I cant decide. More so did you actually watch the match. Have you seen the match stats?

Yes Fed, won and played some good tennis but there is no way on this planet that Melzer played amazing tennis, to the degree that he would have won against anybody else. What are you on?
Chances if he played anybody else that is left in the draw Melzer would have lost too. Not taking anything from Fed as he beats most with his eyes closed, but come one.

Please I know you are Fed fan but geez...stop with this nonsense.

I was uninspired with Roger's performance........12 break points against him, and 27 UE. He won the 2nd set through a stroke of luck, and the rest because Melzer was rubbish at winning the key points. Federer's break point conversion was 4 out of 8.

Against Rafa or Djoko he would have lost, playing like this.

are you a comedian or just plain stupid???

It must you or your family isabeau77.
Dont have personal abuses, I am talking about tennis, not about you or any other player or fan. Dont use insulting words, donot abuse personaly.
Respect the forum and keep decency.
you can counter my point or you can put forth ur argument, never go down in decency. when I saw the match I thought melzer's level of play was very good.
that I shared in a forum which is meant for that.
Never try to abuse individuals who write their opinion here, just have tennistalk.

Of late, Fed doesn't rises his level of play unless it is really required... Obvious example was when he was broken in 3rd set & got the break back... Second when he had Break points....

So still not alarm bell, I would say... Just that he needs to pick his game in next games...

oh !!!!! what are u doing my friends. we are here just to talk and say our opinion and write our ideas . not to hurt each other. anyway , yes nadline I think u are right , if federer play like this match , he might lose to soderling too .

Federer's matches are sometimes boring to watch. He often goes past frozen chickens. If you are not frozen, you become dazed sooner than later. One does not want to see how the match was won, if it is known who is going to win. Delpo, Soda, Berdy and the like have added themselves to the list of Joker and Muzza, when Roger is apparently on decline. Rafa has gone a plane higher in h2h. But for the rest, one can go the sleep and read the next day how the match was won. This year, the black gale from France is making pleasant noise.

sabs- I apologise if I offended you, by saying that I was not able to decide whether you are a comedian or stupid. But how am I to know whats what, when your comments are illogical and ridiculous at times making hard to decipher whether you legitimately know little about tennis, which is ok, or whether you are on here to take the piss and bait all non fed fans and just be a crazy illogical obsessed fan.

Yes you have a right to express your thoughts on here, but unless they are based on facts or are valid in some way or form, be prepared for people to challenge you on this. For example if your were to say "Federer is better than Nadal on clay".

So to sum it all up.
Melzer did not play amazing, neither did Federer for his standards, but he did enough to win and that is all that matters. Against an other player left in the draw, Melzer would have lost, not won and that is that!

By saying that Fed would have beaten anybody else today you are taking a hit at every other player that is left, implying that every other player is plays worse than what Melzer did against Fed today.

I was sticking up for all other players.

@ RMadhu, i agree! Fed never really needed to play lights out tennis. Fed is not stupid, he raises his level when he needs to. Why over exert himself when he knows he needs to conserve himself for Sod, coz he may well need to!

Melzer played as well as he could under the circumstances and Fed played as well as he perhaps felt he needed to! Up to this point Fed has not dropped a set and he is winning his matches. I would not ask for more!

Federer played pretty solid yesterday. I was surprised with his performance since Melzer was playing fantastic.

He had to face like 12 BPs, yeah, but I think that was just a weird circumstance of the match. He was in control from the begining.

Now, let's see how he plays against Soderling/Djoko. Nadal is waiting for him in the finals.

@ Emiliano55

"Nadal is waiting for him in the finals."................lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do u know that?

Mhmm, did you see his path to the finals ? Wawrinka, Verdasco, Ferrer, Youzhny.... just a walk in the park for him.

Emiliano, Rafa still has to play and win those matches.


VAMOS!

Whether it is a walk in the park for Rafa, well, it is not his choice!

Rafa can't guarantee that Berdych or Murray would last long enough to meet him in the semi. He also can't tell Nalby to lose to Verdasco. Rafa also can't help it that his Spanish Davis Cup team members all end up in his quarter, and all of them do so well to beat their opponents to meet each other in the fourth round/QF!

What Rafa can control is the way he plays each match and so far his results had been good. The important thing for Rafa is to keep winning his matches, regardless of who he faces, cupcake or no cupcake!

Solid tennis from federer, 41 winners to 27 errors, pretty good stat i think.
I also agree with luckystar, it's not rafa's problem that the best players in his half lost their matches, of course this increased his chances but yet nothing is known until matches are played. Still i think david ferrer will be a very tough test if he keeps playing the way he is doing lately.
I wish to see a fedal final really here because they are my two best players. It's just that i am a more fed fan so i hope he wins.

Whn Rafa plays lower ranked players or finds his draw easy u say hez got to play n win n whn Roger does the same it bcums cake walk.... :s !!!

Alerrr....It was gr8 win for the fED.... Go Roger....

Er..tomnjerry2, don't you all said the same about Rafa, that he had cupcake draws too! Why complain now when you all did the same thing to Rafa?

only problem bolboi: he will be playing Verdasco not Ferrer.