Staff Reporter.
@Wimbledon.
Eight-time champion Roger Federer needed all of his quality and resilience to dash British number two Cameron Norrie‘s hopes of causing a big upset in the Wimbledon third round.
Federer, 39, has had little court time over the past 16 months but played well enough to win 6-4 6-4 5-7 6-4.
One of the form players in 2021, Norrie could not find a sustained high level against the 20-time major champion.
The Swiss goes on to face Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in the last 16.
Sonego, seeded 23rd, had never won a main-draw match at Wimbledon until this year, but reached the fourth round by beating unseeded Australian James Duckworth in straight sets.
Following exits for Andy Murray and Dan Evans on Friday, Norrie’s defeat means there will be no British players in the second week of the men’s singles.
Meanwhile Nick Kyrgios retired from his third-round match with Felix Auger-Aliassime through injury but said his Wimbledon run had given him a “second wind”.
The Australian had dominated the first set before Canada’s Auger-Aliassime levelled the tie at 2-6 6-1.
But Kyrgios, clearly in pain, then withdrew, saying he had injured an abdominal muscle towards the end of the first set.
It means his mixed doubles partnership with Venus Williams may be over.
Elsewhere former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber will face Coco Gauff in round four after coming from a set down against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Gauff was in total command against Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan on Centre Court, winning 6-3 6-3.
The 17-year-old American has now reached the last 16 at Wimbledon on the two occasions she has played here.
French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova joined them in the last 16 after a tough battle with Anastasija Sevastova on court three, eventually winning 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 7-5 after two and a half hours.
Krejcikova needed some medical attention in a punishing first set where both players lost their serve three times but she recovered to come through in a tiebreak.
Sevastova lifted her level to take set two and nothing could split them in the final set until Krejcikova found greater depth with her groundstrokes in the 12th game to edge out the Latvian and reach the fourth round on her first appearance in the singles at Wimbledon.