Melbourne: Roger Federer put on a tennis clinic for the benefit of Bernard Tomic, using deft drops, lobs, booming backhands and 13 aces to beat the 19-year-old Australian 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and advance to the Australian Open quarter-finals for the eighth straight year.
Tomic came into the match following an upset third-round win over 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, using slices and a variety of off-beat shots from the back of the court to beat the Ukrainian player.
But four-time Australian champion Federer was having none of that on Sunday night before a packed house of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena. He stepped up his game when he needed to, breaking the Australian at 4-4 in the opening set and again to open the third.
Federer hasn't lost to a teenager since 2006 and that run continued as he disappointed the home crowd with a comprehensive win.
Tomic had beaten seeded players Fernando Verdasco and Alexandr Dolgopolov in earlier rounds, but Federer was a step-up in class. The 16-time Grand Slam champion broke six times as he set up a quarter-final against 11th-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
"I thought I played a really good match," said Federer, through to his 31st straight Grand Slam quarter-final. "I knew I had to. Anything else wouldn't have done the job tonight."
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