Tennis: Federer downs Mannarino to stay in hunt for ninth Wimbledon title

Sports Monday 09/July/2018 20:21 PM
By: Times News Service
Tennis: Federer downs Mannarino to stay in hunt for ninth Wimbledon title

LONDON: Champion Roger Federer's pursuit of a record ninth Wimbledon title gathered momentum on Monday as he reached the quarter-finals with a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Federer was in blinding form during the first set, which blazed by in 16 minutes, but after the Swiss missed four break points in the opening game of the second set, Mannarino made more of a match of it.
The world number 26 became the first man to reach break points against the 36-year-old at the All England Club this year, but failed to convert any of them as Federer made it to at least the last eight of the grasscourt major for the 16th time.
He will next play either another Frenchman, Gael Monfils, or South African eighth seed Kevin Anderson.
Serena enters quarters
Meanwhile, seven-time champion Serena Williams prevailed in a Centre Court mothers' meeting on Monday, roaring past Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina into the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
The 36-year-old American was untroubled in a 6-2, 6-2 victory — her 90th singles match win at the All England Club.
Rodina, who like Williams combines a tennis career with motherhood, looked overawed at first as she went 3-0 down.
She steadied herself, though, and even had a break point when Williams served at 4-2, but her chances were few and far between as her opponent continued to charge through a draw blown wide open by an exodus of seeds.
Rodina left the court for a few minutes at the end of the first set but when she returned Williams continued her domination with an early break in the second.
With her easy power Williams looked serene as she cruised to victory to set up a clash with Italy's unseeded Camila Giorgi who beat Ekaterina Makarova.
"I'm a perfectionist, I always find something," the 36-year-old responded when asked about her near-flawless display.
"Today was tougher than the scoreline suggested."
Williams, who missed last year's Wimbledon because of pregnancy, has not lost here since 2014 and has now won 18 consecutive matches on the London lawns.
She is yet to drop a set this year.
Bertens ruthless
In the other women’s match at the All England Club, Kiki Bertens completed the demolition of Wimbledon's top eight women's seeds with a 6-3, 7-6(1) defeat of Czech Karolina Pliskova to reach the quarter-finals on Monday.
Bertens, the first Dutchwoman to reach the last 16 since Michaella Krajicek, sister of former men's champion Richard, did so in 2007, followed up her win over Venus Williams in the third round with a display of power and poise.
Pliskova, seeded seven, was the highest-ranked player to reach the fourth round after an extraordinary first week of upsets but her hopes of further progress evaporated on a stiflingly hot Court Two.
The tall Czech answered an early break with one of her own but 20th seed Bertens secured a second break with a superb touch volley to move 5-3 ahead and then held with ease.
Bertens built a 4-1 lead in the second set with Pliskova appearing to lack energy at times — occasionally making little attempt to chase balls down.
But Pliskova, who reached number one in the rankings after Wimbledon last year, found some fight and capitalised on a loose game by Bertens that allowed her to break back and level the set at 4-4.
When the set drifted to a tiebreak, Bertens quickly found another gear, firing one superb forehand winner down the line.
An ace took her to 4-0 and there was no coming back for Pliskova. At 6-1 Bertens thought she had over-cooked a forehand swing volley but after Pliskova challenged the call the Hawkeye screen showed it had clipped the baseline.
She celebrated and her watching father puffed out his cheeks in relief. Bertens will play either 13th seed Julia Goerges or Croatia's Donna Vekic for a place in the semi-finals. Reuters