SECOND BRIT IS SENT PACKING BY FEDERER
ROGER FEDERER came up against the Artful Dodger of British tennis last night — and there was no way he was going to let his pocket get picked. Faced with the cheeky, mercurial talents of Dan Evans, the seven-times champion was firmly on his guard as he subdued his second upstart British opponent within three days. For all that Evans showcased his sweet ball striking ability he could make little impression on the great Swiss, who looked extremely sharp in his 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory under the Centre Court roof. A testament to the British No 4 was the absence of jollity that marked Federer’s match against Evans’ old friend Marcus Willis. In the end Evans won only one more game than his compatriot. And why would Federer not take it seriously? Were Novak Djokovic to drop a set today to big-serving Sam Querrey then he would become the highest seed left in his half, with the promise of an 18th Grand Slam title. Evans does not operate in that rarefied orbit, although he showed why he should be looking at the top 50 as his next stop. Already he is likely to be in the low to mid-seventies after this. Federer cast a wary, regal eye upon him, and will have noticed his quick hands, wonderful sliced backhand and ability to play all over the court and attack the net. Their respective serves were a big difference on the night and Evans’s difficulty is that the Swiss has all his attributes and more, and he looked very strong. ‘I got off to a good start in each set and that helps,’ said Federer. ‘It has been a pleasure playing Marcus and Dan, they are both talented and good players. It’s always a pleasure playing these local guys.’ He raced to a 4-0 lead, only for Evans to reel off the next three games with a glorious array of groundstrokes. The problem for Evans was that he had to ‘redline’ his game all the time and just could not muster the consistency needed to trouble the master, especially with his serve giving few free points. There were sparkling rallies for the crowds, but Federer was never in danger, once he held off that first revival. The game rattled along at a great pace and was over in an hour and 27 minutes, Andy Murray being the last home player left in at the end of it, a familiar situation.