Djokovic Leads Federer Two Sets to One in Wimbledon Men’s Final
July 6 (Bloomberg) — Novak Djokovic took the lead in the Wimbledon men’s final two sets to one over seven-time champion Roger Federer after the second tiebreak of the match.
Djokovic, the 2011 winner and top seed from Serbia, leads No. 4 Federer of Switzerland 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). The men have met once before in a major final, when Federer won the 2007 U.S. Open title in straight sets.
The Serbian is trying to end a run of three straight losses in major finals, while Federer is seeking his 18th Grand Slam title and record eighth Wimbledon men’s championship.
Djokovic, 27, overcame 22 aces from Federer, including 13 in the third set. The Serbian in turn won the point on three- quarters of second serves. He had forced the first break of the match in the third game of the second set as Federer, 32, double faulted and then got passed at the net.
In the first set, Federer often rushed to the net to finish off the point, which also contained two 21-shot rallies. Djokovic, who had slipped more than a dozen times on the grass during his semifinal, often stood close to the baseline to try and take the initiative.
In the first-set tie-break, Federer took a 4-2 lead before letting Djokovic back into the set with three backhand errors. Djokovic missed his first set point at 6-5 with a forehand error, and also lost the second set point as Federer produced a 122 miles-per-hour ace. Back at 7-7, Federer set up a set point of his own with another 122 miles-per-hour serve and won the set as Djokovic hit a backhand into the net.
To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh in London at drossingh@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net Sara Marley
