Nick Kyrgios Topples No. 1 Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England - With his familiar combination of ease and guile, Roger Federer moved into the quarterfinals at Wimbledon with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Tommy Robredo.
Federer, seeded fourth, is looking for his eighth men's singles title here, a potential punctuation mark to one of the great careers in men's tennis, if not the greatest. But after four consecutive straight-set victories, the obstacles grow exponentially. Standing in Federer's way is his friend and fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
Like Federer, fifth-seeded Wawrinka knocked out a Spaniard, No. 19 Feliciano López, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-3. Unlike Federer, Wawrinka has not ventured this far before at Wimbledon. It took him 10 appearances, two short of the tournament record in the Open era, to reach the quarterfinals.
Federer has a 13-2 career record against Wawrinka, but Wawrinka will arrive with at least a couple of advantages. He beat Federer the last time they played, on clay in the spring at Monte Carlo. And although Federer has a decided advantage in Grand Slam victories, 17-1, Wawrinka is the more recent winner, at the Australian Open this year. He also was a semifinalist at the United States Open last year.
'I think for him, the dynamic has changed a lot,' Federer said of Wawrinka. 'Definitely, you know, showing up for the big moments, believing he can come through them, because he did lose a lot of close matches against many of the top guys. I think it actually all started before the Australian Open. People clearly only put a mark down on the Australian Open on him, but it already started at the U.S. Open and before that.'
Federer and Wawrinka were the first two men into the quarterfinals. Two others were scheduled to join them later Tuesday - the winner of a match between No. 8 Milos Raonic and No. 10 Kei Nishikori, and another fourth-round match between No. 2 Rafael Nadal and unseeded Nick Kyrgios.
Federer was never in danger against Robredo, who was seeded 23rd. He won 88 percent of his first-serve points, and 71 percent of the points when he approached the net, something he is doing with more regularity.
The victory was a small measure of revenge. Robredo snapped a 10-match losing streak against Federer at last year's United States Open, knocking him out in straight sets.
Wawrinka had a bit more of a struggle, and could cite fatigue as an issue. Because of rain delays Saturday and a traditional day off Sunday, Wawrinka's third-round match with Denis Istomin was not played until Monday. Wawrinka criticized Wimbledon's schedulers for canceling their Saturday match rather than moving it to another court.
A more combative, expressive sort than Federer, who is revered at Wimbledon like no one outside Andy Murray, Wawrinka ended his match with a verbal confrontation with López.
The men argued at the net before and after handshakes with the chair umpire. López appeared upset that Wawrinka earlier injected himself into a conversation with the umpire.
Wawrinka played down the aftermath of that match and looked forward to his next one, for a spot in the semifinals.
'It's going to be fun,' Wawrinka said. 'I hope so. To play him on grass here at Wimbledon, it is going to be something special.'
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