ROGER FEDERER DELIVERED another Centre Court masterclass on Saturday to beat the big-serving Sam Groth and keep his hopes of winning an eighth Wimbledon title alive.
Powerful Australian Groth fired down the second-fastest serve in Wimbledon history at 147 miles per hour, just 1mph shy of Taylor Dent’s record, but never really looked like ending the classy Federer’s quest for more SW19 glory at the third-round stage.
Groth hit the serve at in the third game of the first set and while Federer got his racket to the ball, it was just too hot to handle.
It is also the fastest serve of the calendar year.
There was no repeat of the sublime ’hot dog’ lob that the classy Swiss conjured up against Sam Querrey, but the second seed still had a packed crowd shaking their heads in disbelief with an array of sublime shots as he won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2.
Federer, who beat another powerful opponent in the form of Querrey in the second round, showcased serving prowess of his own as he came up with 17 aces to Groth’s 21 and produced 56 winners.
The irrepressible 17-time grand-slam champion did drop his first set of the tournament, but was generally in ominous form and will now face world number 22 Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round.
