Federer reaches Wimbledon quarters
Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Five-time champion Roger Federer won his fourth-round match Monday at The Championships, Wimbledon.
For the second time this month, the former world No. 1 Federer defeated free- swinging Swede Robin Soderling, this time in 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) fashion at the storied All England Club. Federer also topped Soderling, seeded 13th here, in straight sets in the French Open final 22 days ago, as the super Swiss became the sixth man in history to corral a career Grand Slam and equal Pete Sampras with a record-tying 14th major singles title.
Federer won the first set against Soderling on Day 7 by breaking the Swede in the 10th game of the stanza. The two players then held serve throughout the second set, which the Swiss snuck out via tiebreak.
At 4-4 in the third set, Soderling got his first break-point chance of the match, but netted a backhand on a second serve, as Federer went on to hold for a 5-4 edge. The Swiss went on to claim another tiebreak and reach a seventh straight Wimbledon quarterfinal.
The reigning French Open and U.S. Open champion Federer, seeded second at this year's fortnight, was last year's Wimbledon runner-up to Rafael Nadal, as the Swiss lost a 40-match winning streak on these hallowed lawns.
The amazing Federer is 69-1 in his last 70 matches on grass overall.
Fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic joined Federer in the quarters with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 beating of Israeli Dudi Sela. The former Aussie Open champion Djokovic was a semifinalist here two years ago.
Djokovic's quarterfinal opponent will be resurgent 24th-seeded German Tommy Haas, who got past 29th-seeded Russian Igor Andreev 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4. Haas will play in his first-ever Wimbledon quarterfinal this week, in this his 11th trip to the All England Club.
The 31-year-old Haas is currently riding a nine-match winning streak, all on grass. He captured his first-ever grass-court title in his native Germany three weeks ago.
06/29 12:01:53 ET
