FED STUFFS STRUFF!
Flawless Roger on title march RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
IT’S getting daft now. How are they going to finally break this old man if they can’t even get a break point on his serve? It is the glaring fact of Roger Federer’s latest sauntering through the rounds here that he is yet to face so much as a single moment of jeopardy on his delivery. Not one — in three matches, nine sets and more than four hours of court time. Zilch. Nothing.
No break points, no breaking of sweat, no hint of a threat to the old order. He just carries on about his business, a month shy of 37 years old and the winner of the last 29 sets he has played at this place.
Who will stop him? When? No one any time soon by the looks of things. His draw through the first three rounds has been kind, up to and including this win over world No 64 Jan-Lennard Struff. They say there are no easy runs in a Slam, Federer doesn’t need one, but this looks alarmingly straightforward.
Struff, for one, never looked like getting in the way.
The first set, as ever, was straightforward. It has become a theme of Federer’s Championships so far that as well as never showing any vulnerability on his delivery, he also hasn’t wasted any time in snatching breaks.
It took him three games to get one in the first round against Dusan Lajovic, seven against Lukas Lacko and only six here. When it came it was delightful in its execution with a forehand winner for 30-40 and then a blur of a backhand crosscourt to go 4-2 ahead.
From there, Struff was game — he was serving around 132mph — but he never looked even remotely close to getting back into the set, not to mention the match, and that is just what Federer does.
The second set was closer. Not so much to be any kind of threat — the nearest Struff came was at 4-3 up and 30-30 on Federer’s delivery when he fired long — but he kept pace for 10 games before he was broken for 6-5.
The killer touch was a slice backhand down the line, before a forehand winner in the next game closed the set 7-5. From there, Struff might have told himself not to panic, to believe that silly things can happen.
It had been the calling card of his run to the third round, given he held the unusual distinction of fighting back from two sets down in each of his previous two matches. No one had done that in successive rounds here since Adrian Bey in 1964
But the game was just about up when Federer broke at 1-1. Not that he needed any help, but a duff bounce at break point saw Struff swing at thin air.
Federer got a second break for 5-2 when Struff double faulted and quite appropriately held his serve to love, closing with an ace. A machine, really.