FED STUFFS STRUFF!
Flawless Roger on title march
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 walk 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 ageing swinger.
He just carries on about his work, a month shy of 37 years old and the winner of the last 29 sets he has played at this place.
Who will stop the top seed? 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.
And the tribulations elsewhere have only made the remainder of his route to the final look easier, given Marin Cilic, the third seed, was slated to meet him in the semi-finals only to crash out on Thursday. He next faces the world No 26, Adrian Mannarino, and his quarter-final opponent would be Kevin Anderson, the No 8 seed, or Gael Monfils, before a semi-final in which John Isner, the world No 10, is the highest ranked opponent he could face.
They say there are no easy runs in a Slam, and goodness knows the winner of 20 and eight here doesn’t need one, but this looks alarmingly straightforward.
‘I don’t take every match as if it will be my last, but I do try hard every time,’ Federer said. ‘I will never underestimate any opponent.
‘ Regardless of how many matches I’ve played at Wimbledon, and especially on Centre Court, it is such a wonderful feeling playing out there.
‘You have to make sure you are in the driving seat until the match is over so I was happy to stay calm and get the job done. I can be very happy.’
Struff, for all the juice on his serve, never looked like getting in the way.
The first set, as ever, was straightforward. It has become a theme of Fed e r e r ’ 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.
He might be a poet with his hands and feet but his brain is wired like a dead-eyed killer and he knows how to finish these folk off.
The second set was closer. It stayed even for 10 games before Struff 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 tried not to panic, having fought 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 with the greatest of respect to Leonardo Mayer, the 32nd seed who Struff beat in the first, and Ivo Karlovic, Federer has been known to be a little more tricky.
Indeed, he broke at 1-1 and then got a second for 5-2 when Struff double faulted. Appropriately, Federer held his serve to love, closing the match 6-3, 7-5, 6- 2 with an ace.
A machine, really.