Federer Flies By Gasquet At Wimbledon, Medvedev Rolling; Djokovic, Murray On Fri.
After a dodgy opening round escape on Tuesday, Roger Federer faced another Frenchman and this one went much more straightforward. Federer improved to 19-2 against Richard Gasquet cruising to a 7-6(1), 6-1, 6-4 win.
Federer start off slowly but once he scratched out a tiebreaker he ran away with the match. The Swiss has won his last 25 sets against Gasquet.
“I know Richard really well,” said Federer. “We’ve played so many times against each other. It’s always a pleasure playing against him. He’s got the most wonderful backhand… It was a wonderful match for me. I was really happy with my performance today. A tough first set and a great second set. I was just a little bit better in the third. I’m very, very happy, of course.
“It’s not the most important to feel your absolute best in the first and second rounds. What you don’t want to do is go out. Because then you’ve got to really look at everything and question yourself. I’m not there. I’m in the third round, I’m really happy with my level right now. Today was special, so I’m very happy with that.”
Federer will now get Brit Cameron Norrie who is having the year of his life. The 25-year-old has only lost one set en route to his first Wimbledon third round.
“I hope the crowd’s going to get into it, regardless of who they cheer for,” said Federer. “I understand if it’s for him, but if it’s for me, it’s because of the past 20 years of big matches I’ve played here. Cam’s a good guy, too. He’s had a wonderful year. Played great at Queen’s and he’s backing it up here. I know it’s going to be a tough match and I’m happy for him it’s going well. But enough now, he needs to go out!”
Daniil Medvedev, who could meet Federer in the quarters, kept on his run overwhelming teen Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in just 94 minutes. Alcaraz, who just played over four hours yesterday to win his first match on the surface, managed to win just two points off the Medvedev first serve.
“The faster you go at a Grand Slam the better, but Carlos is an amazing player,” Medvedev told the crowd. “I was actually even surprised in a way with the first set. Grass is definitely not his best surface, but he was giving it all there. Of course [in the] second and third sets, maybe the gap was too high. But I’m sure he’s going to be sooner or later in the Top 10 and maybe even higher.”
Medvedev now gets former finalist Marin Cilic in a good third rounder on Saturday.
Alexander Zverev had no issues with Tennys Sandgren dispatching the American 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Up next will be Taylor Fritz who just over three weeks removed from surgery on his right knee, toughed out fellow Californian Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4.
Matteo Berrettini, Nick Kyrgios and Felix Auger-Aliassime were also winners.
On Friday, the third round begins with Andy Murray dueling Denis Shapovalov. Novak Djokovic is moved to Court 1 to face his own Denis, American qualifier Denis Kudla.
Dan Evans takes on American sensation Sebastian Korda and Russians Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov return.
FRIDAY WIMBLEDON SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT – 1:30PM
1. Ons Jabeur v Garbine Muguruza
2. Daniel Evans v Sebastian Korda
3. Denis Shapovalov v Andy Murray
NO.1 COURT – 1:00PM
1. Liudmila Samsonova v Sloane Stephens
2. Novak Djokovic v Denis Kudla
3. Elise Mertens v Madison Keys
NO.2 COURT – 11:00AM
1. Karolina Pliskova v Tereza Martincova
2. Maria Camila Osorio Serrano v Aryna Sabalenka
3. Dominik Koepfer v Roberto Bautista Agut
NO.3 COURT – 11:00AM
1. Fabio Fognini v Andrey Rublev
2. Diego Schwartzman v Marton Fucsovics
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