It was almost as though a switch had been flicked. In the 12th game of his match against Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer shanked a routine backhand pass so horribly that the ball went whistling off behind the umpire’s chair. It was an act of inelegance that left the Swiss looking thoroughly disgusted, yet it was very much of a piece with the preceding 43 minutes, during which Federer had effectively picked up from where he left off against another Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, in the previous round. Which is to say, badly. Federer, who was in real danger of defeat against Mannarino until his opponent slipped and damaged his knee, had once again looked laboured and uncertain. The ensuing tiebreak looked very much a 50-50 proposition.
About 90 seconds after his unsightly aberration, Federer guided a forehand pass beyond Gasquet to claim the first point of the breaker, and everything changed. For the next hour or so, he was almost infallible. Gasquet garnered only a single point from the tiebreak, and the second set was six games old by the time he next troubled the scoreboard. Federer eventually ran out a 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, 6-4 winner in an hour and 51 minutes. He remains a riddle that Gasquet simply can’t solve. This was the Frenchman’s 21st attempt, and his 19th failure. He has lost the past 11 matches in a row, and last won a set against the Swiss a decade ago. It was symptomatic of Gasquet’s plight that when he hit the shot of the match – a thunderbolt backhand off a Federer smash that sped past the startled Swiss at 102mph – he still ended up losing the game.
“It was a nice match back for me, I felt good physically, much more relaxed in many ways,” said Federer. “I was able to play a really good breaker and then have a great 30 minutes to whatever the end was, an hour, an hour and 15. I think it is really crucial for top guys to be able to stretch the lead, and what I was able to do today gives you a lot of confidence. You can start to play so much more freely, and I was able to do that with my shots. And then, you know, the shot-making comes into it, and then the variation comes into it, you also move correctly, [you are] much more clear in your head, so I think I definitely had a really nice stretch there.”
News that Federer is starting to rediscover some form as he steps up his return from a double bout of knee surgery last year will not be welcomed by Cameron Norrie, who faces the eight-time champion in round three after beating Australian wildcard Alex Bolt 6-3, 6-1, 6-2. Norrie, the Queen’s finalist, has won more matches this year than anyone bar Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev, and Federer offered a generous evalutaion of the threat the Briton will pose.
“I see good improvements from him,” said Federer. “I remember when he came on tour he was really steady off the baseline. I don’t know what his favourite surface used to be, and what it is today, but when you’re steady, you can play on all the surfaces. You would maybe argue it lends itself well to the clay, but then again his backhand is very different to many other guys, he doesn’t have much topspin on it.
“I feel like everything in his game has gotten a little bit better, if it’s just the serve, or the zip on the forehand – the backhand has always been really clean. I think the confidence is growing and he’s been working on his game. This is what I would like to see every player do.”
Elsewhere, world No 6 Alexander Zverev came through in straights sets against Tennys Sandgren, winning 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. Also through is Daniil Medvedev, the second seed, who saw off the talented Spanish teenager Carlos Alcarez 6-4 6-1 6-2.