ROGER FEDERER earned himself a weekend off with a seamless 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win over Marc Gicquel, a 31-year-old ranked 60th in the world and a player who has never before won a tour level tournament.
Resplendent in his rather fetching off-white cardigan, Federer could have claimed the match without disrobing and for that matter he may have beaten Gicquel with the pipe and slippers too. He was, after all, in his front room, on Centre Court.
The Swiss number one did not bring his flawless game with him but it was easily enough to thwart the Tunisia-born player, who did not decide on a professional career until he was 24 years old, an age at which some players are thinking of retirement. Evidently the wrong man was wearing the cardigan.
Now ranked 75 in the world, Gicquel faced the defending champion, who was playing his 45th match at Wimbledon and who could barely remember the last time he'd lost a match on grass. Federer's record now stands at a faintly absurd won 41, lost four.
In that vein his next opponent in round four, Lleyton Hewitt, should provide considerably more entertainment value than the journeyman French player. Hewitt is the last player to have won here since Federer annexed the tournament almost six years ago.
The match yesterday, however, got off to an atypical start with Federer causing mild anxiety when he had his service broken in the first game. But he immediately broke back and from there motored to the win. As the clouds darkened Federer noticeably brought up the tempo of his game to the extent some observers thought he accelerated at the end. "I wish I could press a button and say 'okay rain is coming, let's quickly win and then it's all done.' It's not the way it works," he said unconvincingly.
"This is Wimbledon. This is not some junior tournament where you are like 10 times bigger than the other guy. This is serious stuff. I tried to put pressure on him as much as I could."
Overall the master was happy and satisfied the week had come to a tidy end for him. So far he has not dropped a set. "Today was a very solid match again, so I'm very happy with the way I played," he added. "Conditions weren't always easy, you know with quite a lot of wind. Then today I got broken first game. You know with the rain sort of looming around, maybe it wasn't the best conditions."
Hewitt's 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 win over Simone Bolelli in just over two hours, will give him some hope of upsetting Federer. However, the Swiss player has in recent years beaten him convincingly a number of times. Hewitt, though, has been coming back from injury and has come into Wimbledon under the radar. His win in the 2002 final against David Nalbandian means he and Federer are the only two Wimbledon champions appearing in this year's draw.
"Obviously you got to treat him a little bit different," said Hewitt of Federer. "You got to work out tactics. Last five years no one's been able to get it right here. Rafa's (Nadal) come close but no one else has really got that close to him. I am going to have to play extremely well. Whether my absolute best I don't know. A lot depends on how he plays as well. Against a guy like Roger, you really have to take those half chances when you get them because you're not going to get a lot of them."
Hewitt, who has often played through injury and has had a problematic hip here, singled out Tiger Woods for what he managed to do at the US Open despite an almost crippling knee injury. "What he did was incredible. I don't really know if anyone else would have been able to do it. No one else on this planet could have got through with the win, coming down the 18th in regulation like he did."
Federer was typically cautious. The number one, who stays in a house in Wimbledon rather than in a hotel in the city because of the London traffic, still sees the 27-year-old as a threat to what would be his sixth successive crown. "It's always a challenge playing Lleyton. He's a great player, a guy I really enjoy watching. He's a great competitor. We go back a long time.
"We played when we were 15, saved match point and won at the end. So we go way back. Especially here, him being the former number one, former champions here. I think it's an intriguing match for both of us."
The top half of the draw where Federer plays still contains a few dangerous floaters to negotiate after he first deals with the Hewitt threat.
Number-two seed Raphael Nadal and Andy Murray, who are the other end of the draw, are scheduled to meet at the quarter-final stage if both come through.
Nadal plays Germany's Nicolas Kiefer today with the Scot up against the talented Tommy Haas.
In the badly fading light yesterday evening Mario Ancic came through to the fourth round when he defeated Spain's David Ferrer in four sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6.
Marat Safin also progressed with a four-set win over Andreas Seppi. The Russian took the first set 7-5, dropped the second 3-6 but won the third and fourth 7-6, 6-4. Safin clinched it on the second match point to put himself into the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time in almost two years.
