adminLONDON. – Roger Federer’s effortless stroll through the early stages at Wimbledon continued as he brought out the party tricks in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Sam Querrey to reach the third round yesterday.
Once the Swiss seven-times champion had tamed the American’s hefty serve, he cruised through the match, even managing to lob his statuesque opponent with a shot through his legs in the second set.
Querrey began with a tenacious effort to peg Federer back, but the Swiss, chasing an 18th Grand Slam title, broke in the ninth game of the first set and never looked back.
He broke twice more in each of the second and third sets and finished it off in an hour and 21 minutes to set up a clash with Australia’s Sam Groth.
Andy Murray fashioned the most improbable lob winner to break Robin Haase in the first set yesterday and from there the Dutchman must have known that his 2015 Wimbledon journey was going to end sooner rather than later.
The delectable lob that bounced off the Scot’s racket gave him a 4-1 advantage and effectively broke Haase’s spirit as the 2013 champion sprinkled his opponent’s half of the court with 25 glorious winners to sprint to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 second-round win.
Yesterday’s outing on a hot and humid Court One would have pleased his coach Amelie Mauresmo as it was a vast improvement on his underwhelming first-round win over Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin in which he was broken three times in the second set.
Two days on and Murray was at his imperious best as he dished out dreamy dropshots, flashy forehands and crowd-pleasing lobs to win the first set for the loss of only one point on serve.
“I was very happy with the way I played. I thought there were some things I could have done better in the first round but my opponent Kukushkin was playing unbelievably aggressive and made it very difficult for me to impose myself on the match,” Murray said courtside.
“Whereas today I did that much better, I was able to come forward and I felt I was dictating more of the baseline rallies and played a good match.”
Murray’s rapid progress led to a sudden rush in fans flocking to a Court One that had been only two-thirds full during the 20-minute first set.
The latecomers who were forced to abandon their leisurely lunches on the leafy surroundings of the All England Club were rewarded with another Murray masterclass in the second.
After a break point in the third game was safely negotiated – with a forehand error from Haase ending that opening – Murray relentlessly ploughed on to bag the second set when the 78th-ranked Dutchman rolled a backhand into the net. – AFP.
Online Reporter