Roger Federer's rapid straight-sets victory, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, over the 21-year-old Richard Gasquet of France puts him on the brink of history at Wimbledon.
If Federer can win the title for a fifth year running in the final against Rafael Nadal, he will become the first player to achieve that feat since Bjorn Borg of Sweden did so in 1980. Borg was a spectator in the Royal Box as Federer secured his semi-final victory.
Gasquet was back on court 16 hours after he had beaten Andy Roddick, the third seed, in five sets but that did not seem to affect him during the early games of the first set.
The French man traded blows with Federer as the games went with serve. He shook off a break point in the fourth game when Federer put a backhand long and produced an ace on his second serve, one of only four aces he made in the entire match, on the way to holding his delivery. In contrast, Federer served 20 aces in the match and was break point down just three times.
In the fifth game, Gasquet raised the tempo with a backhand winner down the line that landed in the corner of the court to give him 30-0 on Federer's serve. Federer squared the game with the next two points but a missed forehand gave Gasquet a break point. Ace number three took care of that. A service winner and a backhand stop volley that simply died gave Federer the game.
But then, at 5-6, Gasquet crucially lost his serve and with it all chance of challenging the world number one on anything like level terms.
Federer had beaten Gasquet five times in six matches and had allowed him just seven games in the first round at Wimbledon last year. But the 12th seeded Frenchman has improved strongly this year and his form, particularly the power of his backhand, has become one of the major talking points of The Championships.
Federer, however, was in a record 13th Grand Slam semi-final. He had lost just one set going into the semi-final and he had no intention of losing any more.
At the start of the second set Federer's confidence glowed in the sunshine while Gasquet looked on the brink of despondency and played the first three games without inspiration, dropping 0-3 behind and winning just two points in that sequence.
When Federer took new balls at 3-1, he hit three aces and although Gasquet raised his game slightly it did not alter the pattern. Gasquet served his only double fault at 5-2 behind but won the game. Then Federer took a two-set lead with his 12th ace after 68 minutes.
Before the third set began, Gasquet received attention to his left foot and had it strapped heavily before he was able to continue. The French man held on until the seventh game. He was then broken, with Federer taking the final two points from 30-all with a forehand winner and then a backhand which screamed down the line.
After 100 minutes Federer served for a place in the final. He went to match point with a backhand pass that left Gasquet looking abandoned. The defending champion then finished off the match with a forehand to an undefended corner.
Match Statistics
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