体坛英语新闻：Federer sails through, Nadal survives scare at Wimbledon

LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- In a match that finished under the roof, Swiss master Roger Federer defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 in third round at the Wimbledon on Thursday.

His potential semifinal rival Rafael Nadal was given a real scare as he fought back to beat Lukas Rosol and avoided a repeat of his shock Wimbledon defeat by the unseeded Czech two years ago.

Federer's match was suspended temporarily at 4-3 in the second set as a persistent drizzle forced organisers to close the roof. At the resumption, Federer wrapped up the victory in one hour and 34 minutes.

Federer, who will play either 30th seed Marcel Granollers of Spain or Santiago Giraldo of Colombia for a place in the last 16, hit 25 aces and made just four unforced errors in his win.

"It was a serving contest and I am happy I made it, because it was tough with the rain delay," said Federer.

"It's nice to make aces, good for the confidence, but I have got to keep working hard to keep the consistency."

The 32-year-old Federer is bidding to win an uNPRecedented eighth title at the All England Club. The Swiss has a 69-8 tournament record, winning the title in 2003-07, 2009 and 2012.

His 17th and most recent Grand Slam championship came two years ago on the lawns of Wimbledon, with victory over Scot Andy Murray.

World number one Nadal had to work hard facing a dangerous Rosol. The latter had a set point for a two-set lead, but two-time champion Nadal recovered brilliantly to come through 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) , 6-4, 6-4.

The Spaniard, seeded second, goes on to face Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the last 32. It is the first time since 2011 that Nadal has reached the third round.

"I knew I had to keep fighting, waiting for my moment," Nadal said. "I made a few mistakes but he was serving very well, then the second set was very important. Against Rosol, two sets down, it would have been very dangerous."

Elsewhere, Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei to advance.

There were also victories for eighth seed Milos Raonic of Canada and Japan's 10th seed Kei Nishikori.

But 19-year-old Australian wildcard Nick Kyrgios, the youngest man in the draw, caused a shock by beating 13th seed Richard Gasquet of France in five sets.

Kyrgios, ranked 144 in the world, saved nine match points to triumph 3-6, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-5, 10-8.

He will next meet 20-year-old Czech Jiri Vesely, who defeated 24th seed Gael Monfils from France.