NEW YORK -- At his very best, Roger Federer can make even good players look lost on a tennis court.
"You don't know why you're missing everything. Easy balls," David Goffin said. "All of a sudden he's playing well."
That's the way Federer looked when won five straight US Open titles, and the way he's rolling into the quarterfinals now.
Federer reached the final eight at Flushing Meadows for the 13th time Sunday by routing Goffin 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. After slow starts in the first two rounds, he has conceded just nine games over his last two matches.
"In a fourth round like this, if you can keep it nice, short, simple -- you have to take them," Federer said.
A year after getting knocked out in the fourth round, the five-time champion showed there would be no repeat of that. He rebounded from an early break to win the final five games of the first set and never let up from there, finishing it off with a backhand down the line in a third set that lasted just 21 minutes.
Federer tied Andre Agassi for the second-most quarterfinal appearances at the US Open, trailing only Jimmy Connors' 17. He had been surprisingly stopped a round short in 2018 by John Millman, preventing what would have been a matchup with eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
Federer lost the opening set in each of his first two matches for the first time in his 19 US Open appearances, but the No. 3 seed has been pretty perfect since while playing the first match of the day in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The 15th-seeded Goffin broke for a 2-1 lead but that was about his last highlight, as Federer amassed a 35-8 advantage in winners and converted nine of his 10 break-point chances.
That followed his 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 rout of Dan Evans in the third round, making it consecutive performances that looked like they belonged in the 20-time Grand Slam champion's highlight reel.
"I feel like I've had many good finals or moments where I just, like, I'm just not going to lose this match, I feel too good today," Federer said.
He will face Grigor Dimitrov, who swept past Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first US Open quarterfinal.