Wimbledon - Men: Federer drops set on way to win

Eurosport - Sat, 27 Jun 17:35:00 2009

Roger Federer lost his first set of the tournament but still managed to conjure a comfortable 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-1 victory over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber at Wimbledon.

TENNIS 2009 Wimbledon Roger Federer - 0

The 27th seed was meant to provide a stern test for Federer after disposing of Novak Djokovic at the French Open last month but the gulf in class was immediate as the Swiss maestro opened up a one-set lead in just 37 minutes.

The second was in the bag 30 minutes later but the German rallied from 2-0 down in the third to take it to a tiebreak which he won with a wonderful angled backhand 7-5.

Federer snuffed out the rising threat by racing to a 3-0 lead in the fourth and finally booked a fourth-round berth with a thunderous forehand winner.

The five-times Wimbledon champion set up a repeat of the French Open final with Swedish 13th seed Robin Soderling, who beat Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6(7) 6-4 6-4.

Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France could find no solution to the problem of Ivo Karlovic's massive serve as the Croatian ran out a 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5 7-6(5) winner on Court One.

Tsonga failed to create a single break point against the 2.08 metre player from Zagreb, who blasted 46 aces and has this week spectacularly broken a run of four successive first-round exits at the All England Club.

After sharing the first two sets with tiebreaks, Karlovic carved out the match's only break in the 12th game of the third set to give him the initiative and he clinched the fourth set breaker 7-5 with his final ace after two hours and 44 minutes.

He will next play seventh seed Fernando Verdasco, after the Spaniard recovered from a set down to beat compatriot and 32nd seed Nicolas Almagro 4-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(2).

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic made serene progress into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over American Mardy Fish.

The Serbian, who made a shock exit in round two 12 months ago, seems to be peaking at the right time and barely put a foot wrong in a match lasting just under two hours.

Djokovic, largely ignored so far amid all the hype over a possible Federer-Andy Murray final, fired an unreturnable serve to win the match then threw his wristbands into the crowd.

The 2008 Australian Open champion next faces Dudi Sela, who became the first Israeli to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam since Amos Mansdorf at the Australian Open in 1992.

Sela recorded the win of his career when he battled past Spain's 15th seed Tommy Robredo 7-6(8) 7-5 2-6 7-5.

Croatian 12th seed Marin Cilic was locked in an epic battle with 24th seed Tommy Haas when play was suspended at 9:36pm due to lack of light.

Haas took the first two sets before Cilic hit back to level the match, and play was eventually suspended with the score at 5-7 5-7 6-1 7-6(3) 6-6.

The winner of that clash will face either Russian 29th seed Igor Andreev or Italian Andreas Seppi, with that match also being suspended due to lack of light, with the Russian leading 6-1 7-6(5) 4-6 5-5.

Reuters

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  1. What a boring match that was. The most boring of Wimby­ this year. Why is it that great players lose the place­ in front of Federer? He played horrible tennis today­ and didn't deserve to win. The matches yesterday­ which I watched and was enthralled were Lleyton's­ and Andy's. Fantastic tennis. And then tonight Haas­ and Cilic were enthralling. Cilic won but is he too­ going to be frit against Federer as they all­ are?
    Murray won't be, neither will Nole. Karlovic­ was unbeatable today but even he will be frit against­ Federer. Why can't these players learn that he CAN­ BE BEATEN BY ANY DECENT PLAYER.

    From cathrenehume, on Fri 26 Jun 9:55PM

  2. No way fed will lose to soderling. There is no french­ crowd to conspire with. Tommy Haas kind Of Playstation­ will also pose danger to a bent Roger. The diffeence­ between karlovic and delpo is that karlovic has a win­ record against fed (straight sets both on a tie break)

    From Ray V, on Fri 26 Jun 9:45PM

  3. so who exactly beat Nicolas Almagro? Soderling or­ Verdasco? childish mistake...

    From Daniel, on Fri 26 Jun 9:42PM

  4. I may be wrong but I feel there are possible tough­ matches ahead for Federer. He should beat Soderling ok,­ but if he has to face Karlovic and fifty or more aces­ get fired down it will not be easy. I still expect him­ to win, but anyone who can do that will be trouble. I­ also feel that if djokovic plays to his potential a­ match against him will not neccessarily be easy for­ Federer. On the other side of the draw I think Murray­ would have to consider it an alarming failure if he­ didn't make the final. I can't see Roddick­ beating him and there doesn't look to be anyone­ else either unless the weight of expectation gets to­ him. Federer is clearly the rightful favourite, but in­ my opinion is not quite the player he once was, I hope­ however it's still enough to win the tournament

    From LD, on Fri 26 Jun 9:37PM

  5. so what if roger dropped a set today! he won three..­ and hopefully win the title..
    Infact if roger had been­ fully fit last year,i believe he would have been this­ years
    defending champion. no other player plays the­ game like roger! raffa has had to
    work too hard, and­ unfortunately he's injured himself ! maybe he will­ never be the
    same player again. Roger just makes the­ game look so easy .

    From a fed fan, on Fri 26 Jun 9:37PM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    please men's tennis sit up and stop Federa express.­ boring wtaching him play with no emotions. Federa is­ gradually killing tennis circuits. Time to stop him

    From Augustine A, on Fri 26 Jun 9:31PM

  7. fed had this match under wrap and key from the get go,­ fair play to philip capitalising on feds lack of­ concentration in the third but fed was never at risk as­ he proved in the 4th. honestly didnt find it a very­ exciting match and fear that it will go like this all­ the way to the final, missing the intensity that a­ nadal brings to the court, i fear with him out and with­ the french under his belt that fed will simply win this­ in cruise control. not to say fed doesnt deserve this­ because he is definitely the best grass court player­ out of the draw but i would like to see more of a­ contest going on on his way to picking up an inevitable­ 6th wimbledon. maybe soderling will put up a bit more­ of a fight but i fear not.

    From ralph, on Fri 26 Jun 9:11PM

  8. Mr Sweden assisted FED to his first FRENCH GRAND SLAM­ TITLTLE

    NOW is the time to repeat his performance­ displayed against NADAL ~~~ To eliminate FED this­ time

    From pitcrew66, on Fri 26 Jun 8:47PM

  9. Amen Stine

    From Csaba, on Fri 26 Jun 8:23PM

  10. Almagro must have had a very bad day...beaten by even­ two players on the same day...
    Guys, something has to­ be changed in the text, i think... ;))

    From Gergõ, on Fri 26 Jun 8:01PM

  11. stine147, nicely expressed!

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Fri 26 Jun 7:50PM

  12. And to those federer fans that are scared of Ivo­ Karlovic HELLO Ivo plays the same game Del Potro plays­ and Del Potro has even added some technics to his game­ while Ivo only depends on his service break one service­ and a complete set is finished, Federer will play him­ the way he plays A Rod and Del Potro, infact I will­ prefare Federer to play Ivo Karlovic than play a left­ handed Spanish Fernando Verdasco, playing Fernando­ Verdasco will be like playing another Nadal, but we­ must not forget his next opponent Robin Soderling.

    From stine147, on Fri 26 Jun 7:47PM

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    From , on Fri 26 Jun 7:44PM

  14. Sometimes I wonder, what is it that Federer haters­ actually want? If he had beaten Philipp Kohlschreiber­ in three straight sets they would have complained that­ it was just too easy or that Kohlschreiber was not­ himself, this is why I wrote in one of this column that­ do haters of Federer think that his opponents will just­ come to the court without putting a fight, sometime I­ wonder is it that there is something you want him to do­ that he is not doing? You guys better have a change of­ mind and heart or else you might just be affecting the­ health of your Heart for no reason imagine a comment­ like Federer not been in his best HELLO he won a player­ 6/3 6/2 6/7 6/1 what else do you people want him to do­ he ended the match at 6/1 is that not enough to tell­ his critics that the 6/7 was just for his opponent to­ also make a name by been the first person to take a set­ from him, if Kohlschreiber really did a damage to­ Federer's game the last set would have ended at 7/5­ or another tie break but not 6/1 I don't know is it­ that I am really trying too hard to convince Federer­ haters that they are wasting their precious time­ writing against him, sometimes I just want to keep­ quiet and read intelligent analysis of federer's­ match but what do I get from some people garbage­ another writer said he knows how to beat Federer play­ defense and take him to Tie break HELLO the only player­ that can play the game of defense with Federer and take­ him to tie break is NADAL and he is not around no one­ else can do it in a grand slam so wake up people, if­ you don't know what to write just be quiet and­ watch the GENIUS AT WORK

    From stine147, on Fri 26 Jun 7:29PM

  15. Good job Fed !
    sucks that Tsonga lost from Karlovic ..­ Really don't like watching Karlovic play, he has­ notting expect his serve !

    From hn, on Fri 26 Jun 7:01PM

  16. A SEA THON FISH AS BECK. DOKOVIC AS PLAYAN EM. THONS­ SAM CLAVAR FASH.

    From Donney, on Fri 26 Jun 7:00PM

  17. Beware of Karlovic.. Federer.. !!

    From Simon W, on Fri 26 Jun 6:42PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    federer is bent anyway... he will get thrashed by the­ scotch rent boy...

    underpant federer aginst scotch­ rent boy.. will be a great shag

    federer plays second­ fiddle anyway to nadal..

    why not retire roger you puff

    From mike, on Fri 26 Jun 6:32PM

  19. Cannot wait for Federer to spank that @#$% Murray

    From jjmalone, on Fri 26 Jun 6:26PM

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    From peri, on Fri 26 Jun 6:21PM
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