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Federer bags more records, real Serena finally shows up, Nadal blame heavier balls to for slower games


Bangladeshpost
Published : 07 Jul 2019 06:32 PM | Updated : 04 Sep 2020 05:38 AM

Roger Federer kept tennis statisticians on their toes on Saturday as he mopped up a few more records by trampling all over Lucas Pouille’s dreams in a rip-roaring 7-5 6-2 7-6(4) win to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon, Reuters describes.

The Swiss became the first player - man or woman - to win 350 singles matches at the majors.

To get closer to that, however, he will first have to negotiate his way past Italian 17th seed Matteo Berrettini.

While the hollering fans gave Federer a standing ovation as he completed his 350th match win at the majors just a month shy of his 38th birthday, the world’s favourite tennis son was more circumspect about the record.

Pouille had a break point at 3-3 in the first set and again at 5-5. A Federer in full flight had to hit three slam dunk smashes in a row to stay alive in the 11th game - an effort that lifted the roaring crowd to their feet.

Once he survived that mini wobble, he rolled through six successive games before Pouille unexpectedly ended the run by breaking the Federer serve. While it was not enough to rescue the second set, it gave the Frenchman the belief to fight on.

But sometimes belief is just not enough - especially when the man opposite you is closing in on a century of match wins at the All England Club - with Saturday being his 98th triumph.

The seven-times Wimbledon champion’s competitive fires began to burn brightly and she screamed to a 6-3 6-4 win over Goerges to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the 16th time.

Being in the fourth-round mix means that it is still game on for the record 24th Grand Slam title that has proved elusive over the past year — when final appearances at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows both proved to be lost causes.

Against Goerges, she should have been confident of victory since the German had failed to take a set off Williams in four previous meetings, including last year’s semi-final here.

When Goerges soaked up everything Williams could throw at her to fight back from 0-40 down and hold her serve in the second game of the opening set, it seemed this might be another long day.

But Williams could not really afford to dilly-dally around court too long on Saturday considering this match was just a dress rehearsal for a more pressing engagement later in the day — to partner Britain’s most famous tennis son Andy Murray in the mixed doubles.

As if on cue, the Red Arrows shot through the sky just as Goerges was about to begin serving in the sixth game.

While the crowd looked skywards, Williams had only Goerges in her sights and cut down the German by immediately breaking for a 4-2 lead.

Next up in singles for the 11th seed is Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

The tennis balls becoming heavier during play on the grass at the All England Club is to be blamed for the slower game at the Wimbledon and not the playing surface, third seed Rafa Nadal said on Saturday.

Many players have complained about the game’s slower speed at the Grand Slam this year, with Roger Federer saying Wimbledon “has not been the fastest” while Caroline Wozniacki complained about the grass on Court Two after her third-round exit.

Nadal, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 6-3 6-2 to march into the fourth round, did not have any issues with the surface but pointed out that the humidity on court was a factor.

Nadal will play either Portugal’s Joao Sousa or Britain’s Dan Evans in the fourth round next week.