Tomas Berdych belied his lowest seeding at a Grand Slam since 2010 by sweeping into his seventh Australian Open quarter-final with a convincing 6-1 6-4 6-4 victory over Fabio Fognini.
Showing great mobility, the towering Czech neutralised the potentially tricky world number 25 in a sometimes tetchy two-hour contest on Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena on Monday.
The 32-year-old 19th seed converted six-of-11 break points and matched the entertaining Italian’s 37 winners with a much lower error count.
He secured the victory with a rasping forehand which Fognini himself would have been proud of.
“I am glad to be back in the shape that I am right now, which is finally healthy and that makes the difference,” said former world number four Berdych, whose lowly ranking resulted from an injury-plagued 2017.
The Czech added: “I can play freely and I can have joy from the tennis. I can enjoy the time being on court. Yeah, the results are coming with that.
“I was expecting a tough one, and I was ready for it. I had a good game plan, and I was able to execute it all the way through the three sets, so I did it way better today.”
Berdych next meets Roger Federer, who beat him in the third round last year on his way to the title for a place in his third Melbourne Park semi-final.
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