Ferrer waltzed into a second consecutive Australian Open quarterfinal berth on Monday with a concise 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 fourth-round win over 17th seed Richard Gasquet of France.
The outcome wasn’t a surprise if history tells the story. Ferrer went into their first ever encounter at a Grand Slam having won five of their six previous matches.
“I play very good on hard courts, I’m very comfortable on hard courts,” Ferrer said. “I was in the semifinals last year here.”
Ferrer plots a steady course through matches and that strategy worked wonders against Gasquet, who is known to be capable of taking himself out of contention in matches.
Gasquet ruined his chances by giving up seven services games. The Frenchman stayed even to 4-4 in the first set, but was broken at 15-40 in the ninth game on a backhand error.
Ferrer took a 3-0 lead with two service breaks in the second set, but he opened the door to Gasquet to recover to 4-4. That’s when Gasquet made the crucial error of surrendering his serve in the ninth game, enabling Ferrer to serve out the second set in the next game.
By the third set, Gasquet could only hold serve in the opening game and just watched the next six games go by quickly.
“I am happy,” Ferrer said. “I think I played a correct style. I played well today.”
Obviously, the big question Ferrer was asked after the match is how he thinks he’ll fare if he faces world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Djokovic is currently facing Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round, but the assumption is he will be the player standing on the other side of the net from Ferrer.
“Hey, man, he’s No. 1,” Ferrer said. “He does everything better than me. I’ll have to be very aggressive and very much better than normal to have a chance in the match.”
Djokovic has a narrow 6-5 winning record against Ferrer. Ferrer won their last match at last year’s season-ending Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals 6-3, 6-1, but it’s worth pointing out that the Serbian was playing with a shoulder injury.
If it turns out to be Djokovic, Ferrer’s approach to the match might be as simple as a little prayer: “Let’s hope he has a different day and gives me some chance.”
