Parents of newborn children crave quiet time, but tennis' most famous father turned the solitude of Centre Court into a playpen. Thumping 25 aces off the back wall and gliding around the court smoothly, Roger Federer dismissed Gilles Muller, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3, to cruise into the Wimbledon third round for the 12th time.
Rain induced the translucent roof into use for the first time this week, and Federer's tactics were transparent from the start. Stretching the slower Muller with the wide serve, Federer displaced him, hitting his forehand into all areas of the court and slid returns at the big man's feet, forcing him to bend when he attacked.
The father of two sets of twins played like he needed to make it home before their bed time. In a 23-minute opening set, Federer dropped only one point on serve, issuing three love holds and earning two breaks establishing early distance from the world No. 103.
Muller has produced major moments on the Grand Slam stage. The lefty from Luxembourg rushed the net in ousting Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005, and later that year slammed 24 aces to blindside Andy Roddick, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, in first round of the U.S. Open.
These days, the 31-year-old Muller, slowed a bit by the match mileage on his legs and perhaps feeling fatigue from three qualifying wins, is a more plodding player whose lateral movement is not nearly as expansive as it once was, making running rallies with Federer an uphill race.
Rallies were brief because Muller could not put enough returns in play to truly test Federer on serve. When the Swiss flashed a forehand winner down the line to hold for a 3-2 second-set lead, he had 17 winners against just two unforced errors. Federer fired his 12th ace to hold for 4-3 as clouds shrouded the sky and the grounds crew swelled to the edge of Centre Court. Light drizzle escalated into steadier rain as chair umpire Carlos Ramos called time out at about 7:12 p.m. local time. After about a 25-minute delay to close the retractable roof play resumed—and Federer reasserted his winning pattern.
Muller had to make the match about his serve, but he couldn't manage a sniff on Federer's serve to challenge. The seven-time Wimbledon winner has served with authority for much of this season—Federer is third on the ATP in service games won this season (90 percent)—and controlled the match serving 77 percent, permitting just nine points on serve and denying a single break point.
The quality of the Federer return game, particularly his backhand return, is vital to a deep run at The Championships. In each of his last three Wimbledon losses (to Tomas Berdych in the 2010 quarterfinals, to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2011 quarterfinals, and to Sergiy Stakhovsky last year in the second round), Federer managed just one break. A chip backhand return set up a flashy, cross-court backhand pass that froze Muller and gave Federer set point. Flicking a stretch forehand return down the line, Federer took a two-set lead when Muller bungled a backhand slice into net.
The only stumble the fourth seed suffered came when he tumbled to the court in the third game of the third set. Scraping himself off the turf, Federer curled another beautiful cross-court backhand pass in the next game and broke for 3-1 when Muller slapped a double fault into net. Closing a commanding serving performance with a three-ace game, Federer wrapped up a clean effort in one hour and 40 minutes.
Every time Federer has beaten Muller, he's gone on to win the tournament. He hopes that trend continues as Federer will face either 30th-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers or Santiago Giraldo for a spot in the fourth round.
