Federer, Nadal and Williams into quarters

Defending champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal closed in on a dream Wimbledon final as the sport’s two greatest players swept into the last eight on Monday.

Eight-time champion Federer needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set on his way to a 6-0 7-5 6-4 defeat of France’s Adrian Mannarino to reach his 16th All England Club quarterfinal.

World No 1 Nadal, the twotime champion, reached his first quarterfinal at Wimbledon since 2011, with a 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.

Federer, 36, will be playing in his 53rd Grand Slam last eight when he tackles SA’s Kevin Anderson, seeded eighth, who has reached the quarterfinals for the first time.

Next up for Nadal is either Juan Martin del Potro, the fifthseeded Argentinian, or unseeded Gilles Simon of France. Del Potro was leading 7-6 (7/1) 7-6 (7/5) 5-7 when the match was halted due to darkness.

Novak Djokovic will face Japan’s 24th seed Kei Nishikori, who will be in his first Wimbledon last eight.

American ninth seed John Isner, 33, also reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, where he will face former finalist Milos Raonic, 27, of Canada.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams underlined her status as the Wimbledon title favourite with a 62-minute demolition of Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina, while Karolina Pliskova became the last top 10 seed to crash out on Monday.

On Tuesday, Williams, 36, who won the Wimbledon title in 2015 and 2016, will face Italian world No 52 Camila Giorgi, 26, who is in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Kiki Bertens, 26, who took care of Pliskova with a 6-3 7-6 (7/1) victory, faces German 13th seed Julia Goerges.

Dominika Cibulkova, of Slovakia, will next face Jelena Ostapenko, of Latvia.

Angelique Kerber, seeded 11th, takes on Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina. –