Defending champion Roger Federer reached his 16th Wimbledon quarter-final with a destructive performance against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Manic Monday.
The No 1 seed produced another superb display on Centre Court as he cantered to a 6-0 7-5 6-4 victory and remains firmly on course for a record-extending ninth title at the All England Club.
Federer has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon as he set up a last eight encounter with eighth-seeded Kevin Anderson.
“It was crucial for him to stay in the match at the beginning of the second set and then it got tougher,” said Federer after his sixth win in six meetings with left-hander Mannarino.
“You always tend to play better against better players and I am happy to be back in the second week of Wimbledon.”
Federer came out firing winners in the opening set and subsequently dismantled Mannarino in a bagel set that lasted just 16 minutes.
Mannarino, a 30-year-old journeyman who has never been past the last 16 at a major, won just five points in the entire set as Federer hit 11 winners to just one unforced error.
The only consolation for the 22nd-seeded Mannarino was that he became the first player to earn a break point on Federer’s serve during the tournament.
Mannarino put up much more of a fight in the second set, which appeared to be heading towards a tie-break until the 36-year-old Swiss broke in the 11th game, and then successfully served it out.
World No 2 Federer, eyeing a 21st Grand Slam title, was forced to save three break points on serve in the eighth game of the third set.
That only seemed to spur him on, though, and it was no surprise to see him break Mannarino’s resistance in the very next game before serving out the match to love to complete the win in one hour and 45 minutes.
The result extended Federer’s run of consecutive sets won at Wimbledon to 32, two short of his career best from 2005-06, while he has not dropped serve since the semi-finals last year.
Anderson became the first South African man in 24 years to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 7-6 (7-4) win over France’s Gael Monfils.
Federer, who reached his 53rd Grand Slam quarter-final, leads South African Anderson 4-0 in their previous meetings. The pair’s last meeting was on the hardcourts of Cincinnati in 2015.
