Regal Federer dazzles, Stosur knocked out
Regal Federer dazzles, Stosur knocked out
Britain's Prince Charles made a rare, if fleeting,
visit to Wimbledon on Wednesday but lingered long enough to see Roger
Federer produce another regal performance on Centre Court and move
serenely into the third round.
Swiss Federer, bidding for a record-equalling seventh
men's singles title at the All England Club, aired his full repertoire
of shots to outclass Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-3 6-2 in front of an
appreciative Royal Box and 15,000 entranced fans.
With raindrops hovering around south west London,
Centre Court's roof slid shut to enable defending champion Novak
Djokovic to reach the third round with a straight-sets win over American
Ryan Harrison.
Djokovic completed a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory just before
10pm local time to set up a clash with 28th seed Radek Stepanek or
German Benjamin Becker, one of several matches unfinished on a day of
frustrating delays.
Women's top seed Maria Sharapova was poised to follow
suit but bad light halted her progress against Tsvetana Pironkova when
she led 7-6 3-1 having fended off set points on Court One.
Pironkova, Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2010, made an
inspired start and Sharapova recovered from 2-0 and 5-2 down to take the
first set 7-3 on the tiebreak.
The 2004 champion broke the Bulgarian early in the
second set but was unhappy with the conditions and packed her designer
handbag and headed for the locker room after convincing the umpire it
was necessary to halt play.
Samantha Stosur became the highest seed to fall at the
championships when the Australian was bundled out in the second round by
Dutch player Arantxa Rus.
The fifth seed, the only player from the former tennis
powerhouse to reach the second round, lost 6-2 0-6 6-4 in a wildly
fluctuating match.
"It's a pretty woeful performance by all of us, but
it's not through lack of trying or not wanting to be here or anything
like that," Stosur said of Australia's failure to have a player in the
third round of the singles for the first time since 1939.
She was not the only big name to fall in the women's singles.
Seventh seed Caroline Wozniacki, who began the year as
world No. 1, did not even make it past the first round after losing 5-7
7-6 6-4 to Austria's Tamira Paszek despite having two match points in a
contest spanning two days.
"(It) really sucks when you lose," was the verdict of
the Dane who has made a habit of it this year while sliding down to
seventh in the rankings.
SNAKING ACROSS
Home fans who joined the early-morning queues snaking
across the golf course opposite the grounds, were treated to early
British cheer when Heather Watson reached the third round of the women's
singles by beating American Jamie Lee Hampton.
Andy Murray will continue the quest for a long-awaited
British grand slam winner in second-round action on Thursday against
giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Federer bowed to the heir to the throne before his
match and Charles and his wife Camilla gave the 30-year-old maestro a
standing ovation after he thrashed Fognini.
"We are thrilled for the tennis family that they came
to watch today," Federer said after a stress-free victory that resembled
a royal procession at times.
The languid Fognini played his part in proceedings in
the second and third sets but his body language was that of a man just
making up the numbers as Federer treated the crowd to some
jewel-encrusted tennis in a match that flashed by in 74 minutes.
"I didn't think it was that easy a match," a modest
Federer said. "I really tried to focus hard and made sure I played sort
of a clean match, which I was able to do again today."
Federer, who last won the title in 2009, will face Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the third round.
Several first-round matches had to be completed on
Wednesday after rain and bad light ended play early the previous
evening.
Spain's seventh seed David Ferrer finished off
Germany's Dustin Brown 7-5 6-4 6-4 but 25th seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who
partnered Federer to Olympic doubles gold in Beijing four years ago,
lost a five-set cliff-hanger to Juergen Melzer.
Three-times runner-up Andy Roddick beat Briton Jamie
Baker 7-6 6-4 7-5 and will return on Thursday to play Germany's Bjorn
Phau in the second round.
"They tell you to go play, you go play. You can't
really stress about what's out of your control. I've done it a million
times," Roddick said of the stop-start nature of tennis on Wimbledon's
lawns.
