|
 London: He took down Ivo Karlovic in straight sets on Wednesday, triumphing 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) to win his 17th consecutive match and to advance to his 21st straight semifinals appearance at a Grand Slam tournament. In five matches at Wimbledon this year, Federer has dropped just one set.
“I love the record I have of reaching so many semifinals in Grand Slams in a row — 21 is quite a number,” Federer told ESPN.com. “It shows how consistent I’ve been.”
Meanwhile, Andy Roddick had a little more trouble in his quarterfinal match, battling a rejuvenated Lleyton Hewitt to a five-set victory. Neither player won consecutive sets, but eventually Roddick was able to emerge 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-4.
Roddick will move on to face world No. 3 Andy Murray, who cruised past Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets on Wednesday. Roddick has made it to the Wimbledon finals twice before, falling to Federer in 2004 and 2005, while Murray had not made it past the quarters before this year.
Nonetheless, the British Murray, who’s been a fan favorite all tournament, thinks he is up to the task.
“I feel confident because I’ve won a lot of matches on the grass,” Murray said. “But every day, when I get up to play the matches, I know that I’m going to have to perform very well, and that gets the nerves and the adrenaline going and makes me play better.”
Federer will see Tommy Haas in his next match, as Haas upset world No. 4 Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3 in their quarterfinal pairing. When Federer and Haas last met at the French Open, Haas went up two sets to none before dropping the next three, in which he won a total of just six games.
“[To get retribution] would be nice,” Haas said. “I’ll give it my best shot. There’s not much he [Federer] can’t do. He’s obviously the favorite to win the title. I’m going to go out there and try to annoy him a little bit and see what happens.”
Beating Federer certainly will be a difficult challenge, as the five-time tournament champion has won 45 of his last 46 matches at Wimbledon.
|
