Daily Times

LONDON: Roger Federer reached the Wimbledon last 16 for the 18th time on Saturday with a four-sets win over Cameron Norrie, the last British man in the tournament. Eight-time champion Federer triumphed 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 and will be playing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the 69th time in his career. “It’s a nice stat to hear. It proves to me when I wake up in the morning that has happened,” said Federer who will turn 40 in five weeks’ time. “I have loved every minute and I hope there’s a bit more left in me. It’s a pleasure still playing right now. “This one is special because I’m almost 40 — at this point it’s all a bonus and I will see how far I can go here.” Federer is the third-oldest man to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era –- after Pancho Gonzales (41) in 1969 and Ken Rosewall (40) in 1975. He could have wrapped up Saturday’s match in straight sets when he had two break points in the 11th game of the third set. However, Norrie dug deep to force the tie into a fourth set but when Federer broke for 5-4, there was no second opportunity. Federer finished with 48 winners as he won his 104th Wimbledon match. He will face Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.

Shoeless Kyrgios as Aussie men brought to heel: Nick Kyrgios leaving his shoes in the locker room prior to his third round match on Saturday neatly summed up a desperate day at Wimbledon for the Australian men. Not even Kyrgios could lift flagging spirits after Jordan Thompson and James Duckworth had exited earlier in the day. “I left my tennis shoes in the locker room,” he said to a bemused umpire after he had rifled through his bag and realised his error. “It happened once before, but not at Wimbledon. “One minute I thought I was professional, got my racket, got my clothes, walked out here so confidently and then bang, I forget my shoes in the locker.” Having romped through the first set 6-2 against 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime the entertaining but unpredictable Kyrgios lost the second 6-1 and promptly retired with an abdominal injury. However, the 26-year-old Australian saw a positive out of his week at a tournament where he reached the quarter-finals in 2014. “Coming out here (Court One) and having this support has given me a second wind. I will come back and play for a bit longer,” he said. “I did all I could to prepare for here and I beat a heck of a player in the first round (21st seed Ugo Humbert). “Still Felix is going places and for you in the crowd he is better looking than me too!” Wimbledon is Kyrgios’s first trip outside Australia since the coronavirus pandemic took hold largely because he did not trust himself to observe the bubble rules for the players.