MELBOURNE, Australia -- There was something so surgically precise, so devastatingly beautiful about the way Roger Federer dissected 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych in his previous match, especially since it was supposed to be the stiffest test of Federer's young comeback this year.
It was vintage Federer, which made it so surprising when he swiftly fell behind Kei Nishikori early in their fourth-round affair Sunday at the Australian Open.
The opening barrage from Nishikori had Federer down 4-0 before their match was even 20 minutes old.
But if Federer felt any panic, it didn't show. His forehead was creased a little, his eyebrows knit. He looked fascinatingly lost in thought. It was as if the tumblers in his brain were spinning now, trying to figure out what new combination of shots would unlock all the things the fifth-seeded Nishikori had seen Federer do to Berdych and was now trying to take away from the Swiss.
It didn't take Federer long to adjust. He's not a 17-time Grand Slam winner by accident, or lucky to still be alive in an Australian Open tournament that earlier in the day saw unseeded Mischa Zverev force top-ranked Andy Murray to join second-ranked Novak Djokovic among the list of upset victims.
Right now, Federer's game seems to be gathering heft and speed. The pathways to an 18th Slam title are fortuitously opening up all around him.
And a nostalgic Federer-Rafael Nadal showdown in the men's final suddenly seems no crazier to dream about than a potential Williams vs. Williams final on the women's side of the draw.
Or that's how it felt, anyway, after the 17th-seeded Federer roared back and nearly stole the first set from Nishikori, and then overcame a momentary concentration lapse that cost him the fourth set. Federer brilliantly executed at the right moments, winning 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. It suggested that if the King isn't all the way back, he's doing a damn fine impression of his former himself right now.
"This is a huge win in my career," Federer said in his on-court interview, just moments after he yelled and leaped in celebration. "It was about staying calm at that moment [in the first set]. I thought it was not going to get any worse from there. ... I was like, 'Just try to find your zone.'"
He did.
Federer is 35. But he didn't look like someone who hasn't won a Slam since 2012 or missed the last half of 2016 to recover fully from the first surgery of his career. The uncharted territory didn't seem to affect him.
This was a vintage performance in every way. Federer snapped off 83 winners. He smacked 24 aces. The Swiss star coaxed 18 break-point chances out of Nishikori and saved seven of the 10 against him. Federer moved like a cat and never showed a hint of fatigue. Nishikori tested him sternly and often. But Federer, despite how little match play he has in the bank, didn't blink.
In sum, he played at a level we weren't sure we'd ever see from him again.
"I felt like if Rafa and myself could be healthy, yes, you could expect [this], but Novak and Andy are not here? That is a big surprise to me," Federer admitted. "I guess it's good for tennis that a lot of guys believe the top guys are beatable now and vulnerable now. The question is whether I could hang with Kei to the end.
"I felt in the fifth, 'Here we go.' No problem for me."
By the end, it was the 27-year-old Nishikori who looked like the old man. He twice laid on the court to get a massage from a trainer for his wonky back and later wobbled around between some points as if his legs had turned to wood. A press note about his fine 15-5 career record in five-set matches before this seemed like a typo.
Federer now moves on to play Zverev in the quarterfinals. If Federer wins, he gets the survivor of the Jo-Wilfried Tsonga-Stan Wawrinka match after that. With Djokovic gone, Nadal is the only former Slam winner among the eight men still alive on the opposite side of the bracket. But while Nadal has looked good as he comes back from his own long layoff with a wrist injury, Federer has looked terrific.
"I'm playing better and better," he said.