| Wednesday, 2 July 2008 Written by Ronald Atkin Another peerless performance of high-class tennis saw Roger Federer leap over the potentially tricky hurdle provided by Croatian Mario Ancic and move into the semi-finals with his fifth consecutive straight sets victory of the Championships. Ancic has been dining out for six years now on his reputation of being the last to defeat Federer on Wimbledon's grass. To be fair, he regularly points out that Roger has beaten him five times since that first round shock in 2002, and that figure rose to six today. Hard though Ancic battled, particularly in a 16-minute game to hold serve at the start of the third set, he never looked capable of upsetting the odds on an afternoon when a match lasting one hour 41 minutes finally got off court after almost four hours because of rain delays. Federer's racquet is making an ominously sweet noise these days, at least to the ears of everyone except his opponents, and his total of 16 aces was supplemented by another 36 serves which Ancic was incapable of getting back over the net. When the players finally got onto Centre Court an hour later than scheduled because of the weather, Federer came out of the starting stalls like a thoroughbred racehorse, breaking Ancic twice to wrap up the opening set in exactly 20 minutes - conceding just one point on his own delivery. Ancic, wearing a bandage on his left leg, tried a change of tactics, attacking flat out in the second set, but the players were driven off by rain for a break of two-and-a-quarter hours at 1-1. On the resumption, Ancic continued to take risks and at least he extended Federer more fully, until he was broken in the 11th game in the worst possible way, on a double-fault, leaving the Swiss to serve out for the second set with his ninth ace. Ancic's big moment of resistance was now at hand. In a game of 10 deuces lasting 16 minutes to start the third set, the Croatian fought off four break points before winning it by tucking away a forehand volley and then called for the trainer to have his bandage tightened. The feeling that Federer was unstoppable was confirmed quickly when he captured the Ancic serve once more to go 3-2 in front in what was the final set. After that breakthrough, Federer simply concentrated on holding serve, which he did without even conceding a point in three games, rounding off a marvellous performance with three successive aces. The 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 victory stretches Federer's run of wins on grass to 64. As the Beatles once said, who could ask for more? The great champion has two more matches in which to provide his answer.
| Centre Court - Gentlemen's Singles - Quarterfinals | |
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