Stat of the Day: Federer reaches third round of Wimbledon for record 18th time

With his 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-4 win over Richard Gasquet on Centre Court on Thursday, Roger Federer achieved several things, including extending his winning streak against the Frenchman to 11 matches (and 25 sets) in a row, as well as improving to an incredbile 73-1 in his career in second-round matches at Grand Slams, the only loss coming to Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon in 2013.

But Federer carved out a little piece of history with the win, too, breaking the record for most third-round appearances at Wimbledon for a man in the Open Era with 18, passing Jimmy Connors’ 17.

Next up is a first-time meeting with one of the hottest players on the tour this year, Cameron Norrie.

“I see good improvements from him,” Federer said of the British lefty, who’s 31-13 on the year, and who’s cut his ranking in more than half since the beginning of the year, from No. 71 to No. 34.

“I’m excited to play against him in the third round.”

One more piece of good news for Federer: in the 17 previous times he reached the third round of Wimbledon, he always made it to at least the quarterfinals, never losing a third or fourth-round match.