Wimbledon - Federer cruises past Mannarino
Roger Federer battered Adrian Mannarino 6-2 6-3 6-2 to cruise into the Wimbledon third round.
Like a rabbit caught in the Centre Court floodlights, the world number 55 was given a tennis lesson by the Swiss maestro in a second-round mismatch.
Federer, who next meets 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian, was forced to wait around all day after the earlier two Centre Court matches went the distance and he was in no mood to waste any more time in his first ever match under the rainproof roof.
He raced into a 3-0 lead in the first two sets with the crowd taking increasing pity on the left-handed Frenchman, who had no logo on his inexpensive shirt and too often fired his serves into the net.
The ever-diplomatic Federer did not mind the crowd urging on the underdog.
"The atmosphere was fantastic," the third seed said.
"It's unusual, it's very nice to play indoors for the first time, I've played 10 years on Centre Court."
Such was the ease of the encounter that Federer began to drop his guard and a huge roar went up when Mannarino sent a superb a winning passing shot hurtling past the Swiss on his way to three break points.
Federer, though, simply cranked up the gears and stormed back to take the game and the second set before sealing victory to light applause, as if the crowd had become too accustomed to his beguiling brilliance.
They quickly fell in love with him again when streams of autograph hunters appeared at the end and Federer could well do with their support against tricky Argentine Nalbandian.
"I didn't enjoy playing against him too often," he said. "I expect it will be a difficult match."
Another John Isner marathon briefly looked possible before the towering American was bundled out in the second round by Spain's Nicolas Almagro in four sets.
Isner returned to Court 18, which now boasts a plaque to commemorate last year's record-shattering 11-hour epic win against Nicolas Mahut, but was beaten 7-6(3) 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 6-3.
Isner had beaten Mahut in a much-hyped rematch in the first round but was never able to make much impression against the hard-hitting 16th seed Almagro.
He served 28 aces but did not have a single break point on the Spaniard's serve. Almagro claimed the only break of the match early in the fourth set as he went on to seal a third round encounter with Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who beat India's Somdev Devvarman 6-2 6-4 6-4.
Comment 20 - 39 of 39
Match of the tournament Sabine Lisicki v. Ni la, the German girl has all the qualities to be a champion, mental toughness, strength, power, technique, finesse and intestinal fortitude. Also she has the intangible assets of charisma, charm and beauty, as well as coming from a well bred and classy background. She is a future number 1 I predict confidently.
I respectfully disagree with Truvanfan and Nora regarding "it's a matter of preference". This is of course just another way of saying it's OK, we all want to be friends, we respect any opinion, which is good of course.
But have you ever heard anyone here, or on TV claiming that Nadal's game is beautiful and elegant?! On the contrary how many times have you heard this being said about Federer from different linds of people?
Truth is in this case the phrases "it's a matter of preference", and "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", sound a bit empty. People may like Rafa for other qualities he most definitely has, but not the effortlessness, smoothness, efficiency, elegance, beauty and artistic value of his game.
@truvanfan :) brilliantly put post !!
The question is to what extent we can expect Nalbandian to be a challenge to Federer. Federer has some memories and couple years back I woudln't be sure on whom to bet. But today? Nalbandian is a bit of a spent force. Only under very special circumstances he can beat Federer - either Fed does some shocking hickup like against Gasquet or Nalbandian just wakes up to the day. Same to Baghdatis. Had some good moments last year but this season is a bit topsy turvy. Once Djokovic stays focused I don't this the cypriot's weaponry is to any use for him against Novak's confidence. I'll be a bit of a bad prophet but I think that Djokovic is actually the most vulnerable out of top4 not to get into the semis... but as I said, thy all had fairly smooth matches so far...
risimko, I totally agree. We've been watching exhibition-like tennis, so far.
Perfect first two rounds Roger and a vintage performance.
You didn't lose a point on serve for the first 35 minutes- WOW.
Keep on serving like a beast, cruising through, and saving your energy for the latter stages
- you're still the best at doing that!
We need to see that all top 4 got fairly easy oponents in the first two rounds. How can I compare Federer's performance to the one from 2004/5 when he was playing a guy who is several levels below the legend? Same applies to Nadal, Djokovic and Murray rivals in first rounds. Don't get too overexcited they beat some no names, please! The real tests are to come...
t
Roger is really an rare,outearthly talent!Incredibily is what an ELEGANCE does he possess!
Although I root for Novak to win his first Wibmy,Roger is the second person I wish to have won it !
Guy ... :-) Quite !
Nora, Quite right, it's just a matter of preference. Of course there are records that Fed holds which will never be broken by Rafa .. and vice-versa. But this doesn't make either one of them less worthy of having fans, nor does it mean that we can't see great things in the games of players who have nowhere near the records and trophies held by these two men.
I always wonder why there's so much disagreement between fans of players, when the players themselves appear to have no problem acknowledging each others talents and admiring each others games. I'm sure none of them spend their days sending each other insulting messages or calling each other "tards", counting up their wins and losses and predicting each others imminent decline and/or failure. :-) All that stuff appears to be a completely separate 'sport', played by those of us who have nothing more to go on than what we see and hear on TV or read in the press .. a lot of which can be very misleading and simply fuels arguments which, if we were to have them at home, and not on an anonymous message board, would see a lot of people, who post here, thrown out of the house !
There's no place quite like an online forum for witnessing people in total 'meltdown' when they are unable to persuade others to adopt their opinions or when they simply refuse to believe that someone else's thoughts might be as valid as their own, even if they disagree with them. ... Yahoo! forums are full of really rude posters, simply because they aren't moderated and so invite the types whose posts would be unacceptable elsewhere. It's a sad world ! :-)
CHILDREN! CHILDREN!
IT'S JUST A GAME!
What a stunningly intelligent and insightful contribution to this forum, from Dumini S :
"God save this forum. Bunch of uncritical sycophants aka Fedtards here. Teodora, RF Fan, Fedtarded Yiannis etc"
Clearly we should all be aspiring to his supreme levels of critical analysis of the sport. Someone give me a shout if he ever writes anything about tennis, rather than yet another sad little swipe at fans of Roger Federer.
So what is it about Fed that you envy the most, Dumini S ? Because you sure do go to great lengths trying to persuade us all that he's not so great. ... You really shouldn't let these celebs and sports stars get to you so much. Try to be the best that you can be, in your own restricted little world. You might even learn to be happy with who you are ... instead of wishing you were Roger Federer and everybody loved you. :-)
adam, in time, we'll see what nadal can come up with. who plays the best tennis, other than the amount of success, it's a matter of preference, or else only roger has fans.
Federer plays the best tennis. Its the most natural. Therefore he is the best. 24 consecutive semis. Will Nadal ever do that..§/
Even if Rafa ends up winning more career grand slam titles than Roger, FedEx will still remain as the greatest player ever to play the game. The man oozes class on and off the field. Great ambassador for the game of Tennis
That's just a short sighted view from you Shortsight Lad.
Fedtards are anyways short sighted
Even if Rafa ends up winning more career grand slam titles than Roger, FedEx will still remain as the greatest player ever to play the game. The man oozes class on and off the field. Great ambassador for the game of Tennis.
What about Nadal's titanic battles against Del potro, Berdych, Murry and possibly in the final Federer/Djokovic?
It's a fact. Fedtards and logic do not mix
God save this forum. Bunch of uncritical sycophants aka Fedtards here. Teodora, RF Fan, Fedtarded Yiannis etc
"I'm afraid it could leave him (or Novak) a bit deflated for the final but we'll have to wait and see.
It will be a high energy collision straight out of LHC"
Fedtarded yiannis has already started making excuse. Should his boytoy Federer gets beaten at the hands of Nadal AGAIN (and he will), this sore loser will come up new excuses. Just like he made excuses at the beginning of French Open 2011 and US 2010. Defeat at Wimb is too much to bear for these fedtards
Spot on Amaks and Dosh!! All RF fans, do thumbs down comments not related to RF esp those who just talk about their fav player who isnt even mentioned in the above article
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