On a wild and wet day at Wimbledon, third-seeded Roger Federer was calm, cool and collected under the roof on Centre Court. The seven-time champion eased past British number four Dan Evans in just under an hour and a half, taking the third round contest by a score of 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Incredibly, while many competitors failed to complete their second round matches thanks to Mother Nature’s rain delays, Federer has already advanced to the second week. The 34-year-old has now played each of his three matches so far under the roof on Centre Court, which helps his game. Evans was overwhelmed most of the match but did hit the ball well at times. In the end, however, Federer cruised to a nice victory.
After a shaky first round match, Federer was incredibly sharp today, hitting 29 winners as compared to 15 unforced errors. For fans of the Swiss number one, this victory marks continued progress as he works his way back from a back injury that held him out of the 2016 French Open. That decision is looking pretty smart at this point.
Swiss Maestro sprints to take first set in 36 minutes
Coming into this contest, Centre Court had seen its fair share of tense matches on the day. Juan Martín del Potro opened up play by upsetting world number five Stan Wawrinka in four sets.
Next, world number 65 Christina McHale pushed fellow American Serena Williams to the brink before the top-seed pulled out the match in three exhilarating sets. Federer, on the other hand, had no plans to provide that level of drama.
Federer and Evans had never played before, but the Fed-Express already had an advantage in terms of rest. Entering the match, the former world number one had only been on court for three hours and 30 minutes whereas Evans had played for five hours and 41 minutes.
Federer took no time in opening a lead. The first game lasted seven minutes before the 34-year-old broke the Evans’ serve. The third seed consolidated that break for a 2-0 lead. He then broke again, jumping out to a 4-0 lead very quickly.
Evans did break back, however. That one break wasn’t enough, as Federer rode that one break to take the first set 6-4 in 36 minutes. The Swiss number hit 80 percent of his first serves and won 85 percent of those first serve points, losing only three points all set on his first serve. Evans, on the other hand, only won half of his first service points.
Federer races to two set lead in an hour
Federer continued his strong level of play, breaking immediately in the second set. He won his serve for a 2-0 lead before breaking the British number four once again to go up 3-0, then held for a 4-0 lead. Before Evans could blink, Federer was on the cusp of taking the set. The 26-year-old from Birmingham did have some nice shots and moments.
Even though Federer is always loved on Centre Court, the British crowd did give Evans some encouragement. The world number three was just too consistent to really let Evans into the match at all. He went on to take the second set 6-2. The third seed’s percentage of first serves made dropped all the way to 57 percent, however, he won 92 percent of those points.
If Federer has one weakness, it would be his conversion of break points, but it was a different story in the second set, as the seven-time Wimbledon champion converted two of his three break chances, making life even more difficult for Evans.
Fed-Express advances to second week at SW19 for 14th time
By the time the third set rolled around, the 17-time Grand Slam champion was rolling to victory. While fans saw a lot of dramatic matches on the day, from the very limited number of matches that were actually completed, this one was very straightforward.
Federer broke the British number four in the third game on his second chance for the 2-1 advantage, before consolidating it at love for the 3-1 lead. The Swiss Maestro never looked back. In fact, he broke the Evans serve at love before leaping out to a 5-1 advantage.
Evans held one more time before Federer held-on for the victory. Federer’s first serve continued to dominate. The third seed hit 11 aces, zero double faults and incredibly, he only lost five points all match long off of his first serve.
With his win, Federer advances to the second week at Wimbledon for the 14th time. In addition, this marks Federer’s 15th tour-level match win on grass, an all-time record. The Swiss Maestro is chasing even more history at Wimbledon, as he is now two wins away from tying Jimmy Connors’ record of 84 victories at The All England Club.
Federer joins Venus Williams and Carla Suarez Navarro as the only players in the tournament to have moved on to the fourth round. On this Day 5 at The Championships, rain caused five separate suspensions of play.
Whereas Federer has advanced to the fourth round, several players have yet to finish their respective second round matches. This has forced the tournament to decide to conduct play on the Middle Sunday for only the fourth time in history, and the first time since 2004. In the past, this day has been used to refresh the grass courts before the second week.
The Swiss Maestro will face the winner of American Steve Johnson and Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16. Federer owns a 5-0 head-to-head over Dimitrov, while he has never faced Johnson. Because he finished the match today, Federer will gain extra rest over his next opponent.