Roger Federer beats Kei Nishikori to reach Australian Open quarter-finals

Roger Federer cast off doubts about his fitness by winning a five-set thriller with Kei Nishikori to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.

Roger Federer beats Kei Nishikori to reach Australian Open quarter-finals

Roger Federer cast off doubts about his fitness by winning a five-set thriller with Kei Nishikori to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.

This was only Federer's fourth official match since returning from six months out with injury but the Swiss stayed tough on Rod Laver Arena to win 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 6-1 4-6 6-3 in three hours and 24 minutes.

He will now continue his pursuit of an 18th grand slam title against Mischa Zverev, the world number 50 who had earlier pulled off a shock win over top seed Andy Murray.

Federer's previous five-set match came at Wimbledon last year when he was beaten by Canada's Milos Raonic in the semi-finals, two days after winning a decider against Marin Cilic.

The Swiss will be hoping to avoid a similar hangover this time around, particularly given the draw has opened up for him following Murray's surprise early exit.

Nishikori stormed 4-0 up in the first set and held on in the tie-break but the Japanese was on the back foot thereafter, particularly after needing to take treatment on a back injury in the fifth.

"He was playing his heart out," Federer said. "I thought it was a great match and joy to be a part of it.

"I wasn't playing badly in the first set, maybe not serving at my spots very well or he was reading it well. It was about staying calm, after almost going down 6-0, I thought it wasn't getting any worse from there.

"Kei can give you some looks, he's not the biggest server on tour but he is one of the baseliners. It paid off in the end somehow."

Federer might have expected his reward to be another showdown with Murray but instead it will be Zverev after the German made it to his first ever grand slam quarter-final.

The 35-year-old hammered Zverev 6-0 6-0 when they last met at Halle in 2013 and, with Novak Djokovic also out of the picture, he now looks well placed to challenge for the title in Melbourne.

"I definitely did watch the match," Federer said of Murray's defeat.

"It was played right before us and once I come into the building I watch tennis. I thought it was another incredible match. Same when Denis (Istomin) beat Novak, I would never have picked it.

"I like Mishca, he has a nice game coming forward. I'm happy for him. He was going for it and he deserved to win.

"It's a tough one for Andy but he'll be back many more years and I'm sure he's going to win this."

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