Roger Federer settled comfortably into his accustomed place in the Wimbledon quarterfinals as the six-time champion rediscovered the most lethal of his grass form with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 rout of Jurgen Melzer on Monday.
The opening day of week two is always crowded at Wimbledon after Sunday’s traditional day off, with all 16 men’s and women’s fourth round contests on display.
Federer, bidding for his seventh trophy at the All England Club, appeared to have put aside any doubts form his five-set opening match and four in the round after that.
The top-seed crushed Melzer in the first meeting for the pair from Switzerland and neighbouring Austria in 84 minutes.
“The start was vital,” said Federer “I got the early break and he broke me back but I found my range. I’m playing well, this is a very good win for me.
“It was great to have two days off at the weekend, that’s the advantage of the holder, you know you’re going to play Monday, Wednesday, Friday of the first week.
“You get a long weekend but doesn’t make a difference if you win the tournament or not. I’ve progressed, my form is good. The opponents are getting more and more difficult as we go on.”
Despite playing on the ATP for more than a decade each, the pair were meeting for the first time in their careers, with Federer quickly taking command against the 29-year-old who reached his first Grand Slam semifinal in Roland Garros only weeks ago.
The Swiss next plays the winner from Czech 12th seed Tomas Berdych and outsider Daniel Brands of Germany in what will be Federer’s 25th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals.
“I know how to win here, I have the experience,” said Federer.
“But there are many great players still left in the draw. Just because I’ve won here a few times doesn’t mean I can do it every time. This is a very difficult event to win. I hope to play well and just see where it goes.”
The women’s fourth round moved on at a brisk pace on another sunny day as Wimbledon heads for what could be the first totally dry fortnight in a decade and a half.
Venus advances
The pace quickened as former number one Jelena Jankovic had to retire with a back injury to hand over a win to Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 3-0 after just 43 minutes and five broken serves.
Five-time champion Venus Williams was threatened in the second set but rallied to get past Australian Jarmila Groth 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
Clijsters downs Henin
US Open champion Kim Clijsters roared back after dropping the first set to win the Battle of Belgium with long-time national rival Justine Henin, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. China’s ninth seed Li Na duplicated her Wimbledon quarterfinal of 2006 as she upset seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 6-2.
Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, winner of just one match in four previous editions, has come alive in 2010 to reach the last eight through a knockout of 2007 finalist and 11th seed Marion Bartoli of France 6-4, 6-4.
Pironkova next faces Williams, who she beat at the Australian Open first round four years ago.
