Roger Federer was a man on a mission to the 2004 Australian Open, seeking the first significant result in Melbourne and on the ATP throne. The Swiss beat Alex Bogomolov Jr., Jeff Morrison and Todd Reid in the first three rounds, losing 20 games in nine sets to rivals outside the top 100 to enter the last 16.
A much tougher obstacle stood between Roger and spot in the quarterfinals, with Lleyton Hewitt waiting on the other side of the net. The Australian had an early lead in the rivalry with Federer, scoring seven wins in the first nine clashes and hoping for more of the same in front of the home crowd at Rod Laver Arena.
In the Davis Cup semi-final in 2003, Lleyton came from two sets to zero against Roger at the same stadium to seal the deal with Australia, looking to repeat that performance and stay on the title course. .
Instead, Federer knocked down the Australian 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes for his first quarterfinal of the Australian Open. With 14 aces, Roger erased six of seven break chances to keep his serve safe after an early setback that cost him the first game, having the second set advantage to advance to the quarter-finals.
Hewitt got off to a good start, but that’s all we’ve seen of him, breaking five of Roger’s 13 chances in the final three sets for another failure in front of the crowd.
Federer had around 50 winning points (leaving Hewitt on a modest 15), pulverizing more unforced errors than his rival but doing enough to control the pace in the second set and set up the quarter-finals meeting with David Nalbandian.
Roger Federer beat Lleyton Hewitt at the 2004 Australian Open.
Roger had the advantage in the shortest and middle rallies and followed Lleyton’s numbers in the more advanced rallies to outsmart the rival in style.
From 40 to 15 in the first game, Federer made a few mistakes to lose four consecutive points and suffer a break. The Australian pushed back two break opportunities in the next to confirm the lead, dropping barely a point on serve the rest of the set to win 6-4.
Roger stayed focused early in the second set to avoid the same scenario, winning four straight points in game six for his first break and a 4-2 advantage.
He saved a break point a few minutes later to consolidate the lead, battling a few more at 5-3 to grab the set and tie the overall score. The third set proved to be a disaster for the house favorite, experiencing three breaks and allowing Roger to gain a huge boost.
In the fourth set, the Swiss got a crucial break at 2 everywhere, pushing back a break chance while serving for the win at 5-4 and going over the top with a shattering winning point to advance into the quarters.
After the game, Federer said he wanted to go much further and fight for the title, happy with his campaign so far. “I’m chasing first place in this tournament, and I turned out to be a bad guy who put Lleyton out of the draw.
My goal is to go further, and I’m starting from scratch before the quarterfinals, “said Roger Federer.
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