Federer Dazzles Into Wimbledon Third Round

Roger Federer kept his quest for a record eighth Wimbledon title on track on Thursday, and he did so in dazzling fashion in front of packed Centre Court crowd at The Championships.

The seven-time titlist overcame a slow start to produce his best level yet on the Wimbledon lawns, advancing to the third round 7-6(0), 6-3, 6-2 against Dusan Lajovic, who was looking to reach the third round at the All England Club for the first time.

Federer, meanwhile, will make his 15^th trip to the Wimbledon third round, and he’ll face a familiar foe as he attempts to make the second week of the grass-court Grand Slam. Federer will play 27^th seed Mischa Zverev of Germany, who beat Kazakhstani Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4 in three hours and five minutes.

Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-0, including two wins earlier this season. Last month, Federer beat Zverev on the grass at the Gerry Weber Open 7-6(4), 6-4 en route to his eighth Halle title.

The 35-year-old Swiss was broken only once against Lajovic, during his first service game. From there, the Swiss star was in control, winning 11 of the 12 final points in the first set to take the opener. He’d break Lajovic four times in the match and finish with 31 winners to only 15 unforced errors.

All facets of Federer’s game were on point. He kept Lajovic uncomfortable with deep, flat groundstrokes and attacked the net just as well, winning 23 of his 31 net trips (74 per cent).