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Roger Federer celebrates at Wimbledon
ATP Tennis Players, Roger Federer, Tennis News, Wimbledon

Roger Federer sails past British young gun to reach Wimbledon third round


Roger Federer is safety through to the third round of Wimbledon after defeating Britain’s 20-year-old Jay Clarke on Thursday.

Having never lost to a wildcard at a Grand Slam, Federer had no intention of breaking against Clarke, who only won his first ever Grand Slam match on Tuesday, eventually coming through to claim a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2

Prior to the match Clarke had never faced off against a player ranked above 13th in the world, and his nerves showed early on as he led 40-0 on serve before hitting three double faults to help the eight time champion secure an early break of serve at 2-0 in the first set.

The Swiss legend was forced to work hard to hold serve at 3-1 when he misjudged and left a Clarke shot that found the baseline. This gave Clarke two break points, but a clever forehand winner and ace ensured Federer held.

Federer cruised to break Clarke again in the first set, and hitting an un-returnable serve to the Brit’s backhand to close the set.

The youngster from Derby looked much more confident in the second set. Neither man had a problem on serve at all as Federer held serve to force a tiebreak at 6-6.

The last time Federer lost at this stage in any Slam was Wimbledon 2013 when he lost in four sets to Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky. And when Clarke went 2-1 up in the tiebreak after winning the first mini break on the Federer serve, he would have hoped to follow in the same footsteps. But five straight points from the world number three helped steal the tiebreak from Clarke, winning it 7-3.

The third set saw Federer back in control, who broke the serve of the wildcard early with a beautiful passing shot followed by a precise drop shot to go 2-0 up.

Clarke managed to get two serve games onto the scoreboard before a double fault and a wide backhand slice handed Federer his 17th third round appearance.

Next up for the 37-year-old is 27th seed Lucas Pouille who defeated compatriot Gregoire Barrere 6-1 7-6 6-4. The two have met once back in 2014 when Federer got the better of the Frenchman 6-4 6-4 in the Paris Masters.

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