Roger Federer got a tougher test from David Goffin than he did at the U.S. Open, but the world No. 3 still maintained his mastery of the head-to-head series with a 7-6(7), 6-4 victory in round three of the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Thursday evening. Federer fought off five set points in the opener and eventually prevailed after one hour and 54 minutes.
The 38-year-old Swiss had lost only five total games in his previous four sets against Goffin, a stretch that included a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 beatdown at the U.S. Open. Federer has now won 10 of 11 career meetings with the Belgian.
“I never really felt like I had the upper hand over David today,” the 20-time Grand Slam champion assessed. “I thought he did a really good job. He was so much better than at the U.S. Open.
“It was really him that was able to, I don’t want to say dictate play, but I think he was very clear in his shot selection,” Federer said of Goffin. “I thought he took really a lot of good decisions, and he was super fast on his feet today, which I think made it really hard for me to get my freebies and winners off the baseline, because he was getting to all of them.”
“It was a really tough match today. I think that first set maybe ended up being key.”
Next up for Federer is Alexander Zverev, who held off Andrey Rublev 6-0, 7-6(4). With that victory, Zverev moved back into position to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals–a tournament he won last fall.
In a crucial battle for London positioning, Matteo Berrettini defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(5), 6-4 on Thursday in Shanghai. Berrettini still trails both Bautista Agut and Zverev, but he is within 120 points of the Spaniard and within 70 of the German.
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