reuters
Paris, May 29: Roger Federer advanced to the fourth round of the French Open here Friday as he defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier at the Roland Garros. It was an overall Swiss domination as Federer’s mate Stan Wawrinka also advanced with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Steve Johnson of the United States.
Federer Swiss was tested at times by the 23-year-old Dzumhur, but came through unscathed. He hit 38 winners to 22 unforced errors and lost serve just once, when serving for the second set at 5-2. He quickly regained the advantage with another break in the ninth game before racing through the third set to seal victory in 88 minutes.
In the women’s segment former champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia raced into the fourth round with a
6-0, 6-3 demolition of Croatian Donna Vekic. The seventh seed, suffered a minor glitch in the second set when she lost eight points in a row as Vekic rebelled to move a break up for 2-1.
But that was as close as the World No. 165 came to an upset as Ivanovic won five of the six remaining games on court Suzanne Lenglen.
Also advancing to the fourth round was local favourite Alize Cornet. The French No.1, the latest to feel the weight of home expectation after a 15-year gap since Mary Pierce claimed the title, beat Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Meanwhile in a late night match played Thursday top seed Serena Williams survived a huge scare from unheralded 21-year-old German Anna-Lena Friedsam. It looked like a mismatch but 105th-ranked Friedsam gave the 19-time Grand Slam champion a torrid time on Court Suzanne Lenglen, taking the first set before a nervy Williams recovered to scrape into the third round 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.