Roger Federer Shines in Miami Masters 1000 Fourth Round

Roger Federer displayed his best tennis in the fourth round of the Miami Masters 1000 to defeat Spanish player Roberto Bautista. Bautista played at the level of the tennis player in better form in a match that produced great points and two disputed sets that fell on the Swiss side with scores of 7-6 (5) and 7-6 (4).

Bautista closed his participation with a match in which he consistently put pressure on the former world number one and equaled his best performance in the tournament, which dates back to last year.

Federer started with authority in the first game, which he won to love, and just after that Bautista was forced to come back from 40-0 down in the second game to hold his serve.

The Castellón native, who had defeated American player Sam Querrey in the previous round, managed to get into the match just in time and scored good points in the beginning after long exchanges, where he showed his desire to fight for every point.

With that classic hallmark of his style, Bautista sought his first victory against Federer, who had defeated him in all five previous occasions they had faced each other.

In all those matches, the Spanish player never won a set and only broke Federer's serve once, in the 2014 US Open, their first meeting on the professional circuit. After that, Federer was unbeatable.

In the ninth game of the evening in Miami, Bautista surprised everyone on the central court of Crandon Park and, on the second opportunity he had, broke Federer's serve for the second time in his career and went up 5-4 with the chance to win the first set on his serve.

But the Swiss, who in the first set only made 53% of his first serves, put on his working clothes just as the Spanish player's arm trembled at a crucial moment and let that game slip away to Federer without scoring a point.

Both players left the exciting first set for a tiebreak, as closely contested as the rest of the set.

Bautista saved two set points when the score was 6-3 and in the lengthy exchange of the decisive point, he went to the net at an inopportune moment, which Federer took advantage of to gain the advantage in the match with a passing shot.

The player from Benlloch carried an abdominal injury that affected his serves throughout the tournament, but against Federer he neutralized the pain once again and entered the second set with the intention of putting up a fight.

The set opened with a marathon first game that lasted fifteen minutes, in which Federer broke Bautista's serve. However, far from collapsing, Bautista found his rhythm and broke back in the next game with authority.

Today, the Spanish player managed to break Federer's serve more times than in all their previous matches combined.

The battle continued throughout the second set, with the crowd rising to their feet on more than one occasion to applaud the efforts of both players, who delivered spectacular points in Miami until they reached another tiebreak.

In this second tiebreak, Federer took a 3-0 lead, although the Spanish player responded with two points. However, after almost two hours of play, the Swiss was not willing to go to a third set and extended his lead to win the match.

This year's winner of the Australian Open and the Indian Wells Masters 1000 (USA) will face Czech player Tomas Berdych, ranked number 14 in the world, for a spot in the Miami semifinals. Berdych defeated French player Adrian Mannarino 6-3 and 7-5 earlier today.