Roger Federer kept alive his title hopes with a comprehensive straight-sets win over Richard Gasquet in the second round of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. The Swiss maestro needed just one hour and 51 minutes to record the 7-6( 1), 6-1, 6-4 victory in front of a packed crowd on Centre Court.
With the win, Federer improved to 19-2 in his career against Gasquet. They have faced each other five times in a Grand Slam setting, and the former world no. 1 has yet to drop a set in all of those five meetings.
Federer sets up a mouth-watering clash with Norrie
Federer made history on Thursday as he became the oldest man to reach the third round at Wimbledon in 46 years. He did so in dominating fashion as Federer did not drop a single service game against Gasquet. During the 1975 tournament, Ken Rosewall, at the grand old age of 40 years old, made a magical run to the fourth round at All England Club.
Federer aims for more as he looks to become the first men's player to capture nine Wimbledon titles and win 21 Grand Slams, breaking a record he currently shares with Spanish legend Rafael Nadal who decided to pull out of this year's tournament.
Standing in Federer's way in the next round is home favorite, Cameron Norrie. The 25-year-old reached the last 32 at Wimbledon for the first time in his career with an impressive 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win over Australian wildcard Alex Bolt. After dropping the first three games, Norrie went on a scorching run, winning the next 11 games to turn the match in his favor.
It was an easy win by Norrie over Bolt, who was handed a wildcard in this tournament after winning a Challenger title in Nottingham last month. Things are bound to get tougher, though, for Norrie against Federer, arguably the greatest grasscourt player in history.
Norrie, who has now reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the third time running, will look to finally break his duck against the sport's Big Three. He lost to Nadal in this year's Australian Open and French Open. Norrie will be confident of his chances against Federer, though, as he has been playing some of the best tennis of his career.
Only Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev have won more matches than Norrie in the ATP Tour this year. Norrie joins Andy Murray and Dan Evans in the third round, the first time since 1999 that three British men's players have reached this stage of the competition.
Related Article: 2021 Wimbledon Day 3: Djokovic Rolls Into Round 3; British Stars Murray, Evans, and Norrie Advance
Gauff and Raducanu move on
In the women's draw, American Coco Gauff and Britain's Emma Raducanu booked their places in the round of 32 with emphatic wins on Thursday. Raducanu claimed the biggest victory of her young career, stunning Marketa Vondrousova, 6-2, 6-4.
Gauff, on the other hand, cruised to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Elena Vesnina. Gauff's serve was working perfectly in this contest, blasting nine aces to finish the match in just 70 minutes.
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