Roger Federer may not be quite the force he once was, but his modus operandi on grass remains unchanged: hold serve in a trice, make the opponent labour long and hard on his own delivery, pounce when the pressure tells, repeat. It’s a time-honoured approach that has earned Federer eight Wimbledon titles and counting. So when Lorenzo Sonego, the Italian world No 27, made three unforced errors in the seventh game of the opening set, a reassuringly familiar pattern seemed to be taking hold.
Then things got interesting.
As Federer came out to serve for the set at 5-4, the Centre Court crowd readied themselves to acclaim their hero. But the old certainties are not what they once were. The Swiss netted a forehand, watched a Sonego lob soar beyond his reach, and then nudged two consecutive backhand volleys wide. He was broken to love. By the time Sonego reached 40-0 in the next game, the Italian had won 11 consecutive points.
Welcome to the unpredictable world of Federer 2.0, a place where the once unthinkable has become the everyday, where brilliance goes hand in hand with vulnerability. We should not be surprised to find ourselves here. Federer, who will be 40 next month, is still feeling his way back from double knee surgery and more than a year of inactivity. It is entirely natural that he should be prone to such lapses. Yet that doesn’t make it feel any less jarring. It is like watching a Rolls-Royce stall: we know in principle it can occur, but it still comes as a shock when it actually happens.
When Sonego double-faulted at 40-0, the machine spluttered back into life. Federer sent an unreturnable forehand whistling beyond the Italian. A backhand winner followed, and then a protracted tug-of-war as Sonego fought to hold serve across a game of seven deuces and 13 tense minutes. Three break points came and went for Federer. As he fashioned a fourth, the light raindrops that had been lingering in the air became heavier. Play was suspended. It has often been said that time waits for Federer, and for the next 20 minutes or so it must have seemed that way to Sonego. To be break point down against the Swiss on Centre Court is hard enough; to have to stew at length on such a predicament is plain cruel. When the Italian returned, he double-faulted. Federer needed no second invitation, closing out the set to lay the foundations for a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win.
“I’m extremely happy,” said Federer. “Again, tricky conditions, inside and outside, against Lorenzo, who is always dangerous. But I felt that after that first set, I was able to control things. It was a great match, and I couldn’t be more excited to be in the quarter-finals. It’s a big moment and I’m very, very happy.”
Federer, who becomes the oldest man to reach the quarter-finals in the open era, will face either Daniil Medvedev, the second seed, or Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. Medvedev led by two sets to one when rain forced the suspension of play.
Also through to the last eight is Novak Djokovic, the top seed, who came through 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 against Cristian Garin of Chile. “I served well and [felt] comfortable,” said Djokovic. “That’s probably affecting the game in general. “When I’m able to serve well [and] get a lot of free points on my first serve, when I go quickly through my service games, it just gives me more confidence and allows me to relax a bit more on the return games and from the back of the court.”
Djokovic will continue his quest for the 20th major that would bring him level with Federer and Rafael Nadal against Marton Fucsovics. The unseeded Hungarian, drawn against Andrey Rublev for the fifth time this year, recorded his first victory of an otherwise miserable sequence, beating the fifth-seeded Russian 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. “I was not thinking about the previous matches,” said Fucsovics, who won the boys’ title at Wimbledon a decade ago. “This one was a different match. We played on grass. I really like the surface. I think my game fits the surface very well. I think Andrey’s game is not the best on grass, so I just was focusing on the next points. I took my chances. I didn’t give up. That was the key.”
It was a memorable day for Canada, who will have two representatives in the last eight at Wimbledon for the first time. Felix Auger-Aliassime continued his fine grass-court season with a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 over Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, while Denis Shapovalov put out Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded eighth, 6-1, 6-3, 7-5. “The country is behind us,” said Auger-Aliassime, who will play Matteo Berrettini in the quarter-finals after the Italian beat Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in straight sets. “My city [Montreal] is behind me. It’s really good to do that, to have this much support. It’s a great day for us Canadians and hopefully it keeps going.”