Shanghai: Roger Federer said that his devoted band of Chinese supporters helped pull him through a tough first set and into the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals yesterday. The Swiss defeated David Goffin 7-6, 6-4. Federer, 38, plays either Germany's Alexander Zverev or Andrey Rublev of Russia in the last eight. "I never felt like I had the upper hand against David today," said the 20-time Grand Slam winner, who looked unusually flustered at times.

Federer was left shaking his head in the first set and he suffered a rare inelegant moment in the 12th game, slipping on his own sweat — "a bit embarrassing", he said.