Wimbledon 2017: Roger Federer eases through to third round for 15th time of his career

Federer admitted afterwards that he had felt nervous on Centre Court at the start of the match

Roger Federer fell behind against his Serbian opponent (Getty)

Dusan Lajovic will always be able to say that he once led Roger Federer on Centre Court but, for this year at least, that will be the extent of the 27-year-old Serb’s claim to Wimbledon fame.

While Federer is through to the third round here for the 15th time in his career, Lajovic has never gone that far in his four appearances at the All England Club. He has never won back-to-back matches on grass at tour level and has never beaten a top 10 opponent.

However, the Serb could not have made a better start. After Lajovic had held his own serve in the opening game, Federer immediately went 0-40 down in the second. Although he recovered to deuce, the seven-time Wimbledon champion was broken two points later when he put a lame forehand into the net.

Federer admitted afterwards that he had felt nervous at the start, which was a surprising admission given his experience and status in the game. However, he might also have been feeling short of matchplay time after Alexandr Dolgopolov’s retirement early in the second set of their first-round match.

Nevertheless, it did not take long for normal service to be resumed as Federer broke back in the third game as Lajovic missed a forehand on break point.

Those were the only breaks of serve in the first set, which went to a tie-break. If much of the opening set had been reasonably close the tie-break was not as Federer won it 7-0.

Although there was only one break of serve in the second set, Federer looked firmly in control by this stage. The Swiss had six break points in the second set while Lajovic had none.

Federer broke again in the opening game of the third set and a further break enabled the Swiss to serve out for victory. He completed the task with his ninth ace to secure a third-round meeting with Germany’s Mischa Zverev.

“I couldn’t get rid of the nerves and just struggled to find my rhythm,” Federer said afterwards. “I struggled through that first set and was happy to get rid of those nerves in the end.”