Roger Federer vs. Marcus Willis: Score and Reaction from 2016 Wimbledon

Roger Federer cruised through his second-round match with Marcus Willis at Wimbledon 2016 in straight sets on Wednesday, beating him 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

Though Federer never looked in danger of suffering a giant-killing early exit, Willis more than played his part in a thoroughly entertaining and heartwarming encounter, and on a number of occasions, the British qualifier was able to put his powerful serve to good use.

Normally, all eyes are on Federer during the early rounds at Wimbledon, but after the world No. 772's unlikely upset of Ricardas Berankis on Monday, it was Willis who stole the limelight from his illustrious opponent.

Wimbledon's Twitter account illustrated the size of the gap between them:

The gulf in quality was readily apparent before the two started, but the second game gave a glimpse of the best and worst of Willis' booming serve—a double-fault handed Federer a break point, but some strong deliveries including an ace helped stave off his opponent for a few points, per tennis writer Ben Rothenberg:

To the delight of the crowd, Willis produced an outstanding lob in the following game and several exciting rallies over the course of the set, but he struggled to get close to finishing off a game.

In the end, Federer took the first set and a bagel in just 24 minutes.

That would not be the case for the second, however—in his first service game, the Brit raced to a 40-0 lead with more powerful serving.

It looked as though he might yet again fail to close it out after he sent a forehand into the net and Federer produced a powerful smash to make it 40-30, but Willis held on:

The hold was no fluke—in his next service game, a neat volley and a pair of powerful forehands helped him race to a 40-0 lead, and he won his second game of the match with an emphatic ace.

Federer set himself up to run away with the rest of the set when he broke to go 4-2 up, but that would be his only break in the second as Willis earned his third game to ensure his opponent had to serve it out, per Live Tennis:

"

6-0 6-3 for #RogerFederer. How many games do you think he'll drop in the third set? pic.twitter.com/oEHlWYTZ2E

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) June 29, 2016"

The 25-year-old went ahead for the first time in a set in the third, despite allowing Federer to come back to deuce from 40-0 love up. Nevertheless, he held his resolve to claim a 1-0 lead with a neat backhand and held to 15 the next time around.

In the following two, he went one step better as he held to love on both occasions—Rothenberg hailed his efforts:

In between, a pair of errors by Federer handed Willis a pair of break points, but he was unable to take them with the Swiss maestro upping his game to deny him with three pinpoint winners.

Like the other greats, Federer is adept at stepping up a gear at just the right time—and with Willis serving at 4-4, he did just that to earn his first break of the set and from there was able to serve for the match.

Per BBC Tennis, Willis vowed to learn from the experience and use it to improve:

Meanwhile, Federer hailed his opponent's contribution to the match, per Rothenberg:

Federer could find himself playing another Brit in the third round if Daniel Evans can surprise Alexandr Dolgopolov.

There will be far sterner tests of his abilities before the tournament is over, but few will be more enjoyable.