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Roger Federer, Venus Williams march on at Wimbledon
Roger Federer was in imperious form as he marched into the third round at Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 win over Lukas Lacko.
Defending champion Roger Federer took his streak of consecutive sets won at Wimbledon to 26 on Wednesday, reaching the third round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko.
Top seed Federer, the eight-time champion, goes on to face either 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic of Croatia or Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
Federer’s longest streak of sets won at Wimbledon was 34 between the third round in 2005 to the 2006 final.
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On Wednesday, the 36-year-old Swiss star fired 16 aces and 48 winners past Lacko, the world number 73.
Venus wins
Five-time champion Venus Williams battled into the Wimbledon third round with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru.
Venus reached her ninth Wimbledon final last year, but the American star was denied a sixth title by Garbine Muguruza.
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She returned to the All England Club stuck in a rut after losing in the first round of both the Australian and French Opens this year.
Making her 21st Wimbledon appearance, 38-year-old Venus is the oldest woman in this year’s tournament and the world number nine looked her age during a sloppy opening set of her first round against Johanna Larsson.
But she hit back to clinch her 88th Wimbledon singles win and it was the same script as she made it 89 by recovering from a poor first set to demolish Dulgheru.
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Asked if her wealth of Wimbledon experience was a key factor, Venus said: “I’d love to have that extra advantage. If that’s working for me I’m all for it.
“It’s just about winning the match. If that’s your best or not doesn’t matter.”
Venus faces Dutch 20th seed Kiki Bertens or Russian world number 107 Anna Blinkova in the third round.
Sam Querrey, the 11th seed, stepped up his bid to emulate last year’s run to the semi-finals with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-3 win against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Querrey’s fellow American Madison Keys, seeded 10th, celebrated US Independence Day with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum.
Croatian world number 55 Donna Vekic followed up her shock success against fourth seed Sloane Stephens with a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson.
