By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, July 4, 2015
Roger Federer did not face a break point dispatching Sam Groth to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the 13th time.
Photo credit: CameraSport/Stephen White
The foreboding thud of felt ball crashing off back wall sounded like a bowling ball bouncing off a hard-wood floor. Sam Groth blasted the second-fastest serve in Wimbledon history today — a 147 mph rocket — but Roger Federer responded with his own brand of all-court fireworks.
Defusing the fastest server in history with some snappy returns and crackling shotmaking, Federer did not face a break point in a sharp 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory.
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"I needed to focus on my own service games and I did that very well," Federer told the BBC afterward. "I don't even think he had a break point through the four sets so I'm very pleased with how the match went."
Federer hit his spots on serve—he fired 17 aces and permitted just 7 points on his first serve—and shrewdly used the big man's power against him by blocking back his returns. Committed to taking time away from the serve-and-volleyer, Federer took shots on the rise even ripping a clean one-handed backhand swing volley winner at one point.
Federer has been almost unbreakable on serve during this grass-season reeeling off 94 straight service holds—a streak that dates back to his Halle opener against Philipp Kohlschreiber last month.
The second-seeded Swiss buzzed into the Wimbledon round of 16 for the 13th time. Federer, who is 12-0 lifetime in SW19 fourth-rounders, will play Roberto Bautista Agut for a quarterfinal spot. The 20th-seeded Spaniard ended the run of qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili, 7-6 (4), 6-0, 6-1.
"He knows how to play on this surface," Federer said of Bautista Agut. "Obviously from now on there's only big matches going forward. I'm very pleased with the first week."
It was a tough day for some imposing servers. U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic completed a five-set win over John Isner, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (4) 12-10, in a third-rounder that began yesterday. Isner hit two of his three double faults in the final game, including scattering a double-fault deep on match point to end a match in which the compared combined for 72 aces: Isner hit 37 and Cilic smacked 35 aces. The ninth-seeded Croatian will play the last American man standing, Denis Kudla, for a place in the last eight against either defending champion Novak Djokovic or Kevin Anderson.
The 6-foot-5 Groth is a former Aussie Rules football player who barrels forward fearlessly on his serve-and-volley grimacing like a man prepared for a collision. The crash of that 147 mph blast in the third game actually elicited an astonished gasp from some of the Centre Court faithful.
Federer was too busy eyeing the buzzing ball to notice. A heavy topspin backhand pass crosscourt handcuffed the burly Aussie who netted his volley as Federer broke for 3-2. The seven-time champion needed just a half an hour to wrap up the first set, winning 20 of 22 points played on his serve.
That was the bad news for Groth. The worse news? The massive server served 77 percent in the set, smacked 10 aces, but won just one of nine points played on his second serve in the opening set.
Federer broke to start the second and did not look back building a two-set lead. The world No. 2's experience facing Groth at the U.S. Open last summer helped shape his return tactics today. Federer broke five times and reeled off the final four games to beat Groth, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in an entertaining second-round victory at Flushing Meadows.
"Sam's got different ways to serve: He can slide it around, he can kick it, though on the grass you're not going to use too much kick, or he just goes massive," Federer told ESPN's Darren Cahill after the match. "When he goes massive it's maybe a little bit easier to see he's going to do that, but it's going to be harder to control it. I feel like he wins a step using the sliding serve to come to net. So you want to stay aggressive yourself and take time away from him so then he has to volley from a little bit further away from the net, which then makes it more difficult for him to either put it away or go short on you."
It's a a tough ask to continue a forward march against such a brilliant shotmaker. Credit Groth for continuing the cause and testing the Federer serve reaching deuce at 6-5 in the third set. Federer found the lines again slashing an ace out wide to seal his most dangerous service game of the match and force the third-set tie break.
In the breaker, Federer blinked double faulting to hand Groth the mini-break. That was all the world No. 68 needed to snatch the third set. Federer had racked up 90 consecutive holds at that point, yet still lost a set for the first time in the fortnight. He restored order in the fourth, bursting out to a 3-0 lead and never looking back.
"I'm good. I'm very happy," Federer said of his week one performance. "It's been a hot week the first week. Thankfully, I've had the easy matches going through without too many long four or five setters so that's always a good thing."