Six-times champion Roger Federer showed a ruthless streak against one of his best friends on tour when he destroyed Austrian 16th seed Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to earn a place in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon yesterday.
Federer, who had never faced Melzer at senior level before, produced his full array of wonderful touches and rock-solid serving on Centre Court in sharp contrast to his stuttering performances in the opening two rounds.
“I felt great. I knew it could be a very tricky match and the start was vital. I found my range quickly and was playing well,” Federer said.
PHOTO: EPA
“Jurgen is a great player and played well in Paris so this is a good win for me,” he said. “My form is good now, that is what I really care about. It doesn’t matter how I got to this stage.”
“Opponents are getting more and more difficult but I know how to win here and that is a great advantage for me,” Federer said.
The Swiss ace dropped his opening service game but that was about his only slip-up for the rest of the match.
Melzer had never reached this stage of the tournament before and Federer quickly reasserted his supremacy by breaking straight back.
Another break followed soon after as Federer, who has 16 Grand Slam titles to his name, took advantage of some hesitant play from the Austrian.
With Federer comfortable on his serve, Melzer was under intense pressure to hold his own serve and the left-hander crumbled under the strain in the second set.
Federer was able to produce winners on Melzer’s first serve at will and he crushed his opponent’s weak second serves to open up a two-break lead that proved more than enough to take the set.
Melzer couldn’t make any impact on the Federer serve in the third set either and it was only a matter of time before the world No. 2 broke again — in the seventh game — before serving out the match in one hour and 24 minutes.
BATTLE OF BELGIANS
In the women’s singles Kim Clijsters won the battle of the Belgians yesterday when she beat Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to book her quarter-finals place.
Clijsters edged a close battle against her compatriot, who suffered a fall in the opening set and appeared to damage her right wrist.
After the first two sets were shared in just under an hour, Clijsters made the crucial breakthrough in game eight of the decider and Henin, whose usually fearsome baseline game let her down, had no answer as the eighth seed wrapped up the victory when her opponent netted a forehand return.
In other action five-times champion Venus Williams had to fight long and hard to earn a 6-4, 7-6 win over Australia’s Jarmila Groth.
Venus arrived almost 10 minutes late for the match leaving Groth at the net chatting to the umpire and waiting for her to appear.
Once Venus got started and into gear, one break of serve was enough for the American second seed to take the first set after 35 minutes on Court Two.
But her Slovakian-born opponent, ranked 92 in the world, refused to be overawed by the woman who was won more grass court titles than any other player on the circuit.
ENGROSSING
The second set was an engrossing battle with Groth fighting tooth-and-nail to stay in the fight.
The winner of the 2008 Taipei Ladies Open served for the set at 5-4 and 6-5 but on each occasion Venus thwarted her, and she did well to recover from 4-0 down in the tiebreak before going down 7-5 when the Australian netted a mid-court forehand after an hour and 37 minutes.
Venus will now play Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova for a place in the semi-finals after her defeat of France’s Marion Bartoli.
No. 3 seed Caroline Wozniacki was another loser while No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic was forced to retire from her match against Russia’s Vera Zvonareva with a back injury.
China’s Li Na made short work of Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, winning 6-3, 6-2.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
UP IN SMOKE: More than half a dozen riders crashed out of the race, with Marquez’s title chances in doubt after driving off the track with flames flickering from his bike Jorge Martin yesterday won a crash-filled Indonesia MotoGP to extend his championship lead, while closest rival Francesco Bagnaia limited the damage by claiming the final podium place. The win leaves the Pramac Racing rider 21 points ahead of his Italian Ducati rival, who finished third behind Spaniard Pedro Acosta in sweltering conditions at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on Lombok island. In front of a crowd of 60,000 in motorbike-mad Indonesia, the 26-year-old put his tumble in Saturday’s sprint behind him, canceling out the gains his title rival Bagnaia made after securing victory in that race. “Thank you Indonesia. I am very happy.
RSS