Roger Federer contined his quest for a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title as he crushed Marat Safin in straight sets in an eagerly-anticipated third-round clash on Friday.(Xinhua Photo)

 

Roger Federer contined his quest for a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title as he crushed Marat Safin in straight sets in an eagerly-anticipated third-round clash on Friday.

 

The world number one won this much-anticipated third round match more easily than he could have hoped, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in one hour 39 minutes and his pleasure was evident as he took a prolonged bow on Centre Court.

 

Federer revealed that he had been nervous at the start in the knowledge that he would have a tough battle on his hands.

 

"I was very pleased with my performance," the Swiss commented, " because I knew that Marat was dangerous and the conditions were tricky with swirling winds."

 

"With the sun shining from one end, it was really hard to play from the baseline or to pick out the serve. I expected him to serve well which is why it got close in the third, but the wind stopped and it got easier."

 

"For me, it's definitely good to keep winning and keep winning in straight sets. Maybe the intimidation factor is there."

 

Federer, looking to match Bjorn Borg's five straight Wimbledon titles, will tie Borg and Australia's Rod Laver with 11 majors by winning the final in nine days. That would leave him one behind another Australian, Roy Emerson, and three short of Pete Sampras of the U.S.

 

Women's top seed Justine Henin also advanced to the round of 16without losing a set after an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over another Russian Elena Vesnina.

 

Henin, who won this month's French Open, will complete a career Grand Slam by winning the only major played on grass.

 

"It's been good for me this week," the 25-year-old Belgian said, "I had pretty easy matches. Especially today, I'm very happy the way I played, very aggressive, very consistent."

 

Runner-up for the second time last year, Henin is the bookmakers' favorite after racking up a third straight win in Paris. She is seeking to become the 10th woman to win all four majors.

 

Australian Open runner-up Fernando Gonzalez became the highest seed to exit. After fighting full sets, the Chilean fifth seed finally conceded 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 8-6 to Janko Tipsarevic, a Serbian ranked 64th in the world.

 

There were other third-round upsets on Friday as ninth-seeded American James Blake and 15th-seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic were all handed losses.

 

Blake, who has never advanced beyond the third round at the All England Club, lost to 20th-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 3-6,6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) while Ljubicic was beaten 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 by Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

 

Elsewhere in the women's draw, Serena Williams, seeded seventh and seeking a third title, routed Venezuela's Milagros Sequera 6-1,6-0, and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, the third seed and a French Open semifinalist, beat the Czech Lucie Safarova 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

 

But ninth-seeded Martina Hingis, playing with a hip injury, was beaten by the American Laura Granville who ranked 77th, and eighth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia joined the list of eliminated seeded players after a 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 defeat to Dutch Michaella Krajicek.

 

Federer broke the former U.S. and Australian Open champion's serve twice in the first set, which he took in 18 minutes.

 

Needing to stem the avalanche, Safin managed to well start in the second set, breaking for a 2-0 lead. But the seventh game, usually the vital one in a set, was where Safin came to grief. Falling love-40 down on serve, his resolve cracked and so did his racket as he twice hurled it to the floor, without incurring a penalty.

 

The Russian found himself two sets behind with less than an hour played when Federer rounded it out with the fifth of his total of 12 aces.

 

Safin upped his level of commitment in the crucial third set, starting to challenge the champion with some brilliant shots, and deserved to take it to a tiebreak.

 

It proved to be the Russian's only highlight of the evening. Two more errors, a forehand long and a backhand service return that also sailed over the baseline, meant that Safin had completed his own destruction without further input from Federer.

 

"I just didn't have the weapons," said Safin.   

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2007)