| Monday, 30 June 2008 Written by Ronald Atkin Roger Federer, defending champion and an increasingly sound bet to collect his sixth Wimbledon in a row, moved into the quarter-finals with a solidly impressive 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 6-4 victory over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, the man who won here in the year before the Federer coronation got under way.
Federer's triumph was not entirely unexpected. He has now defeated the feisty Aussie on 12 consecutive occasions and, from those 12 losses stretching back to 2003, Hewitt salvaged a mere four sets.
There was a strong chance that he would be able to lift that to five during a first set tie-break and even later in the match when he held eight break points. But every time Federer simply upped his game another notch, banging down one of his 21 aces or a service winner to fight off the threat.
By the third set, Hewitt's hip complaint was clearly starting to bother him and he had trouble moving quickly to shots directed out of his immediate reach. But Hewitt is, and always has been, a battler and he gave his absolute all until the end of this one hour, 49 minute match. No wonder the large contingent of Australians in the crowd, with their green and gold wigs, gave him a special ovation at the end.
Hewitt was acutely aware that he needed a good start if he was to disrupt Federer's five-year run of success against him, and a good start was what he managed. Perhaps it was due to good advice from his coach, Tony Roche, who spent just over three years in the same role with Federer from 2004 to 2007, and it was also partially down to the fact that Federer's groundstrokes, particularly on the forehand side, were wayward.
But Hewitt's all-action game is based on the need for a healthy body and, as he has freely admitted, this is what he most certainly does not possess in these Championships because of his hip condition. Even so, he was still in contention until the arrival of the tie-break after 35 minutes.
It was a 13-minute affair, containing six strikes against the serve and when he gained his first mini-break to level at two points each, Hewitt let rip with his famous "C'mon" bellow.
Federer kept the tension high with a wild forehand or two, but at 6-4 he held two set points. Both were cast away with poor shot selection by the champion and when an excited Hewitt thought he had finally reach a set point of his own he was denied by a Hawk-Eye ruling. Two points later, with ace nine, Federer had the set in his pocket.
What Hewitt urgently required now was a good start to the second set. Instead, he was broken on the back of his first double-fault and a netted backhand and then fell 3-0 behind when Federer broke again, picking off the Australian as he started to charge the net.
There was a huge cheer from his fans as Hewitt put away a spectacular smash and he suddenly began to get to the Federer serve, creating break points in the sixth and eighth games. But Federer simply cranked up the power, banged down aces seemingly at will and closed out the set in 28 minutes.
Still Hewitt attacked as the third set got under way and Federer needed to save two more break points in the second game before clicking into top gear again by capturing the Hewitt delivery. The gallant Hewitt was managing to conjure break points and must have been heartbroken to see his opponent come up with something special in response on every occasion.
The last game was typical of the champion's afternoon - two aces, one sizzling backhand volley to take him to match point and then a serve big enough to induce a Hewitt forehand return into the netting.
| Centre Court - Gentlemen's Singles - 4th Round | |
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