Federer through to Wimbledon fourth round

Roger Federer reaches for a shot during his third-round match against Sweden's Jonas Björkman swissinfo.ch

Switzerland's number one tennis player, Roger Federer, has won through to the fourth round of this year's Wimbledon Championships. The tournament's number fifteen seed defeated Sweden's Jonas Björkman in straight sets.

The Basel-based teenager struggled to find his form during the first set, and was forced into a tiebreak, but recovered comfortably after rain stopped play to take the second set and eventually win the match, 7-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Federer appeared to grow in confidence during the latter half of the match, where he forced his opponent to do much of the running around.

After the match, the Swiss star blamed his earlier difficulties on the weather: “I didn’t feel completely comfortable returning my opponent’s serves,” he said, ” and there really was a lot of wind – it was madness out there.”

Federer will face an even tougher challenge in the next round of the tournament, as he now goes on to face the American player, Pete Sampras. Victory against the world number six would be sweet for the Swiss player, whose style of play has been compared to that of Sampras early in his career.

“I’ve just got to put out of my mind the fact that he has already won Wimbledon seven times,” Federer said of his upcoming tie.

“I think I have a good chance against Sampras and I will do my best. This is a dream come true for me,” he added.

There was bad news in the women’s tournament, however, as Switzerland’s Emmanuelle Gagliardi crashed out of the third round after being defeated by the United States’ Serena Williams in straight sets, 1-6, 2-6.

The only game the 96th-ranked Gagliardi won in the first set was on a break in the third when Williams gave away every point.

But the fifth seed quickly made up for her mistake and punished Gagliardi game after game.

Despite her disappointing performance, the Geneva-based player remained resolutely positive in defeat.

“To come up against such a strong opponent gave me the chance to see my own limits and let me see how I should try to improve my game,” she said.

“So despite the result, there was something positive to be gained from the match,” Gagliardi added.

Gagliardi’s defeat means Patty Schnyder is the only Swiss woman still in contention at this year’s Wimbledon tournament.

swissinfo with agencies