Roger Federer looks to banish more demons when he takes on Tomas Berdych in the Cincinnati Masters quarter-finals.
Federer’s path through the draw has been littered with painful memories from the past. He finally avenged his 2009 US Open final defeat to Juan Martin Del Potro when they met in the second round and on Thursday he had the chance to put his Beijing Olympics defeat to James Blake in the shade, beating the veteran 6-4, 6-1.
Berdych also inflicted one of the more chastening defeats of Federer’s career last summer, a painful reminder that the Swiss’ undisputed stay at the top of men’s tennis was coming to a close. The Czech became the first man other than Rafa Nadal to beat Federer at Wimbledon since 2002, ending his streak of seven consecutive finals.
Federer got his revenge a couple of months later in Toronto, edging a close encounter 6-3. 5-7, 7-6(5) but he will still be keen to show his dominance.
Berdych has been impressively consistent this year, reaching the quarters in most of the events he has entered but he has failed to push on from that to bigger things. He sealed a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win over Nicolas Almagro in the last sixteen and will be a tricky challenge for Federer but in these conditions, the Swiss is a very strong favourite.
