Roger Federer thrashes Julien Benneteau in the second round – London Olympics
Reigning world number one tennis player, Roger Federer of Switzerland, moved one step closer to winning his maiden Olympic Gold in Singles, as he knocked out French player, Julien Benneteau, in a one sided second round match at
the 2012 London Olympics.
Federer dropped just four games in the entire contest, winning it in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in just 58 minutes to advance to the round of 16.
The Swiss Maestro gained lead from the start of the match, breaking Benneteau in the second game and holding his following serve to move ahead 3-0. Serving to stay in the set at 2-5, Benneteau was broken again and lost it 2-6.
Federer and Benneteau won their serve in the opening three games of the second set, taking the score to 2-1 in the favour of the former. The Swiss star struck in the fourth and consolidated on it to attain a 4-1 advantage. In a
similar fashion to the opening set, Benneteau failed to hold his serve in the eighth game and went down 2-6.
The Swiss legend said, after the match, “I was able to put in another solid performance today. There was a bit of a swirly wind and I think he might have struggled a little bit with his serve in these conditions, whereas indoors
it is straightforward and you can get great rhythm.”
Benneteau is the same player who had a two sets to love lead over Federer in the third round of Wimbledon four weeks back but squandered it to lose 4-6, 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-1. The Swiss Master went on to beat Andy Murray of
Great Britain in the final to capture the title.
Commenting on Federer’s chances of winning the Gold Medal, Benneteau stated, “He’s the favourite. There are a lot of good players here, but for sure he’s going to be close.”
The Swiss Maestro is looking for his first Gold Medal in the singles category but he grabbed one in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 17-time Grand Slam winner partnered his close friend, Stanislas Wawrinka, to win the
title.
Federer shared that he is following all the sports on T.V. at his place in the Wimbledon village. He said, “We have a great TV set-up where you can watch all the different sports from archery to beach volleyball, canoeing, anything
really. Of course, I have a few of my favourites.”
The Swiss star is drawn to play the world number 35, Denis Istomin, in the third round.
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