London - Roger Federer and Robin Soderling delivered
knockout blows to third-round Wimbledon opponents Friday to set up a
re-play of their French Open final of three weeks ago.
Second seed Federer, who claimed his career-first Roland Garros
title at the expense of Soderling, dropped his first set of the week
in a defeat of German Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-
1.
The 13th-seeded Soderling defeated Spain's Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (9-
7), 6-4, 6-4, producing 19 aces to 20 for the loser.
Federer was certainly satisfied with a performance in two and a
quarter house marked by 15 aces, 48 winners and conversions on seven
of his 22 break chances.
He has now won his last 15 matches and improved his overall
Wimbledon record to 47-5.
'It was a good first week, it's nice to be through pretty
convincingly as well,' said the winner. 'This was my best match of
the tournament, even if I dropped a set.
'I'm excited about the second week. It's good to come through
without losing too much energy, but you have to be ready for even
seven five-setters.
'I don't mind the shorter ones, the crowd was good the sun was out
- it was fun to play. I'm pretty relaxed and happy to be here. It
will be an exciting second week.'
The Swiss got caught up in a third-set tiebreaker, which
Kohlschreiber won to keep his thin hopes alive.
Federer re-established normal service by cleaning up for victory
in the fourth set against the No 32 German, holder of two titles, to
59 for the Swiss.
'Maybe my serve let go just a little bit,' said the winner. 'But
he started to pick side a lot as well and took the right decisions at
the right time and deserved the third set in the end.
'I was happy how I reacted. I didn't panic and it was an excellent
match in the end.'
Federer is seeking a record 15th Grand Slam honour if he can lift
his sixth trophy in seven years at the All England Club next weekend.
Spanish seventh seed Fernando Verdasco advanced over countryman
Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) but Croatian Ivo Karlovic
piled on a massive 46 aces to stun ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of
France 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
No 2 Serena Williams led women's seeds to straight-set wins,
booking into the fourth round over Italy's Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 6-4,
while Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva put out compatriot Elena
Kulikova 6-1, 6-2.
Victoria Azarenka, seeded eighth, made the most of her first
Centre court appearance as she defeated Romanian Sorana Cirstea 7-5,
6-3.
France's Virginie Razzano got an injury walkover against Russian
seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, who withdrew with an ankle problem.
Daniela Hantuchova defeated doubles partner Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3.
Russian tenth seed Nadia Petrova rallied to overcome Argentine
Gisela Dulko 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on a sunny day which put the lie to
weather forecasts of rain for a potential first rollout of the new
Centre court roof.
USA
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