“On certain days it goes better than others. Sometimes your serve matches up better against certain players. There's no doubt about that, as well,” Federer said.
The 36-year-old Swiss was perfect at times, especially on serve, as he pushed his Wimbledonconsecutive set win streak to 26, matching his second-greatest stretch at SW19. His longest – 34 straight sets – came during Federer's grass-court glory days – did they end? – from the third round in 2005 to the 2006 final. Federer won five consecutive Wimbledon titles from 2003-08.
A decade later, he's looking to go back-to-back at the All England Club for the first time since '07-'08. His second-round match was a tad trickier than his opener. Lacko had a confident beginning, placing drop shot winners and holding comfortably.
But once Federer found his level, the Slovakian could offer little resistance. Federer broke in the seventh game of the first set and served out the opener, which started his perfection on serve. From 5-4 in the first set to 4-1, 30/0 in the third, Federer won 35 straight service points, eight consecutive love service holds.
“I think [what's] important when you want to serve well is your point-for-point mentality, saying maybe the first point is as important as a break point, so the concentration is the same. Trying to remember all the things you've done throughout the entire match, what has worked, what hasn't worked,” Federer said.
“I don't need that much time, especially after a short previous rally to go through all of that. Just reassess everything very quickly. I think I can do that very good. Then it's more than just serving. It's also first-strike tennis, serve and first shot, serve and taking the right decisions as you go along, in the rallies as well. As the match went on, I was able to do that better and better.”
Lacko, who reached his first grass-court final on Saturday at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne, fell to 0-19 against Top 10 players.
Federer will next meet Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, who saved a match point and came back to beat Croatian Ivo Karlovic 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 13-11. It was a festival of aces: Karlovic delivered 61, while Struff hit 31. The big Croatian was a swing away from advancing to the third round while Struff was serving 5-6, Ad-Out in the fourth set. But Struff held, and then converted his first match point, breaking Karlovic in the 24th game of the final set.
Did You Know?
At 36 years 341 days, Federer is attempting to become the first man in the Open Era to capture five Grand Slam titles after turning 30. The Swiss is one of only three men who have won four Grand Slam titles in the Open Era after their 30th birthdays (Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall).
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