Swiss third seed Roger Federer advanced to the last-16 at the US Open on Saturday by taking his 13th victory in as many matches against Spanish 31st seed Feliciano Lopez.
The 19-time Grand Slam champion, seeking his record sixth title on the New York hardcourts, won 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to book a fourth-round meeting with German 33rd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who is 0-11 for his career against Federer.
Unlike his first two opening rounds in Flushing Meadows, Federer played consistently throughout. He also looked to be moving well with no signs of discomfort about his back, which looked to have hampered his movement in the first couple of rounds.
The five-time former champion wasn’t broken in the match until the fourth game of the third set, while trying to consolidate the break he had had on Lopez’s serve in the third game. The set progressed on serve thereafter until the 12th game. Trying to stay in the match, the southpaw made a forced error to hand Federer the win on his first match point.