Roger Federer waltzes into Halle quarter-finals and secures No 4 seeding at Wimbledon

Roger Federer has rediscovered the authority that saw him reign unchallenged through the season’s first quarter. He is not just hitting the ball sweetly again – as we saw in his 7-6, 6-4 victory over Mischa Zverev on Thursday in Halle – but talking a good game too.

The extra 45 points that Federer collected on Thursday mean that the “Big Four” of men’s tennis will also be the top four seeds at Wimbledon this year. This is not as common as one might think. You have to go back to the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, when Novak Djokovic beat Federer in a thrilling five-set final, for the last time it applied at a grand slam.

The form horses of 2017 thus far have been the players once seen as old nags – 35-year-old Federer and his polar opposite, 31-year-old Rafael Nadal. Meanwhile Djokovic and Andy Murray have struggled. On Thursday, while cranking up his comeback from a ten-week break, the archduke of tennis slipped in a sly dig at the reigning world No. 1.

“Andy [Murray] was tired after getting to No 1 at the end of last year and then has been struggling with injuries,” said Federer, whose low-impact schedule is proving more effective than Murray’s over-zealous work ethic. “I think the second part of the season will be really crucial for Andy and Novak [Djokovic] as well. I think the second half of the season is going to be really, really interesting.”

Federer might have lost to Tommy Haas last week in Stuttgart, in what was his first appearance since the Miami final of April 2, but he is now regathering momentum as he moves into the quarter-finals of Halle for the 15th time. His next opponent will be Florian Mayer, a man he has never lost to – and has only ever dropped one set against – in seven previous meetings.

Thursday's match in Halle felt like old-school grass-court tennis, as Zverev charged to the net after every serve and followed up with the same delightful first volley that unhinged Murray at January’s Australian Open. The difference on Thursday was that Federer was able to produce accurate passing shots when he most needed them, while his own service games were so assured that he never faced a break point.

Halle has been almost a tribute tournament for Federer since he first played there in the year 2000. After eight titles already, another win would take him close to the sort of statistics Nadal has been posting on the clay.

The draw is certainly opening up for Federer, with all three of the other seeds in his half having been ousted already. Alexander Zverev - who took him out in the semi-final of last year’s tournament - is a threat, but they cannot meet until Sunday’s final.

At the Aegon Championships at Queen’s, meanwhile, the British interest in the singles may be over, but Jamie Murray and his partner Bruno Soares moved into the semi-finals on Thursday by beating the freshly minted French Open champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus.