No stopping Federer as he eyes Room 101

ROGER FEDERER is on the brink of entering tennis’s Room 101, although that is nothing to fear for the great Swiss.

If he can defuse the power of giant American servebot John Isner in today’s Miami Open final it will be his 101st career title, with no signs of the wins stopping in his 38th year.

For a third successive tournament Federer has made an ATP final, this time at the expense of 19 year-old Denis Shapovalov, beating him 6-2, 6-4 at the last-four stage inside the Miami Dolphins stadium.

‘I told my kids before today’s match that Shapovalov wasn’t even born when I started playing on the pro tour,’ said the father of four.

So, just when it seemed possible that two teenagers from the same country — Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime — could make history by meeting each other in a Masters level final, it is back to a more familiar scenario.

Federer and Isner have an aggregate age of 70 and, in the former’s case, he is getting ever closer to Jimmy Connors’ record of 109 titles on the main tour.

Expectations that his defeat by Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian might be the precursor to a long fade have been confounded.

Since then he has won the final of Dubai (beating the young Greek), made the final of Indian Wells and now Miami. In the process his ranking is actually moving up and he will now be at No4 this week, regardless of the outcome, because he lost in the first round of this event in 2018.

And, unlike last year, tonight’s match will not mark the start of a long hiatus for Federer.

He plans to return to the clay this season and has confirmed his entry into the Madrid Open at the start of May, ahead of the French Open.

In last night’s women’s final, Australia’s rising star Ashleigh Barty continued her rapid ascent by easing past world No7 Karolina Pliskova 7-6, 6-3.

The first set was tight and went to a tiebreak but Barty breezed through it 7-1 before clinching the second in a dominant display featuring no fewer than 15 aces.