Federer gets his sparkle back as sun shines at Wimbledon

The sun finally came out at Wimbledon on Thursday and eight-time champion Roger Federer got his old sparkle back on Centre Court to eclipse Richard Gasquet and move serenely into round three.

It was not quite vintage Federer, but the 7,500 fans packed around his favourite court did not care as the Swiss gave them plenty to ooh and aah about in a 7-6(1) 6-1 6-4 victory.
The 39-year-old took a while to find his timing and needed to save three break points in his first service game.

But having been pushed into a tiebreak, the 20-time Grand Slam champion flicked the switch and his game began to flow.
After taking the opener the sixth seed moved smoothly through the gears and Gasquet could not live with him as he suffered an 11th successive defeat against Federer.

Next up for the Swiss will be in-form British 29th seed Cameron Norrie who thrashed Australian Alex Bolt.
“It was a wonderful match for me and I’m really happy with my performance,” Federer said on court.

Second seed Daniil Medvedev meanwhile subdued some early fight from Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz before brutally dispatching the talented teenager 6-4 6-1 6-2 to reach the third round.

Elsewhere, fourth seed Alexander Zverev moved smoothly into the third round with a 7-5 6-2 6-3 win over American Tennys Sandgren.

Nick Kyrgios, playing in his first tournament since the Australian Open, also progressed with a straight sets win, overcoming Italian Gianluca Mager 7-6(7) 6-4 6-4.

In the women’s draw, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina admitted she was struggling mentally with the demands of trying to win her first Grand Slam title as she joined the exodus of top seeds.

The world number five, seeded three, was beaten 6-3 6-4 in the second round by Poland’s Magda Linette, meaning that six of the top ten seeds have already departed in the women’s draw.

American teenager Coco Gauff marched into the third round of Wimbledon with a convincing 6-4 6-3 victory over Russian Elena Vesnina on Centre Court.