TENNIS – Roger Federer overcame Andy Murray 7-5 7-5 6-4 in the semifinal at Wimbledon to reach his 10th final at the All-England Club and his 26th Grand Slam final. He will face Novak Djokovic, who beat Richard Gasquet 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4. Federer and Djokovc will play their second consecutive Wimbledon final one year after their epic five-set match Diego Sampaolo
Federer saved a break point at 30-40 in the first game. The opening set went on serve until the 12th game when Fedeer took a 15-40 lead on Murray’s serve with a backhand winner. Murray, who was playing in his 17th Grand Slam semifinal, fended off the first set point with a backhand pass before Federer converted on his second opportunity to close out the opening set after 45 minutes.
The second set was highlighted by a fantastic 10th game when Federer led at 5-4. The Swiss Maestro earned three points at 0-40 with a cross-court forehand winner and a backhand into the net from Murray. The Scotsman forced the match to deuce. He saved two more opportunities before holding serve with an ace after a 14-minute game.
Federer held his serve for 6-5 before clinching the second set on his sixth set point with a volley.
The third set went on serve until the 10th game when Federer closed out the match on his first match point after two hours and seven minutes. Federer won 84 percent of his first serve points.
“Andy has been playing well this season. There is much expectation riding on the match. I am unbelievably happy. I played so well in the biggest occasion today. I have been serving very well for the season. I wasn’t broken against one of the biggest occasion today,” said Federer.
Federer will meet again Novak Djokovic who beat Richard Gasquet 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4 to reach his 17th Grand Slam final.
Djokovic broke serve to open up a 2-0 lead. Gasquet broke straight back. Gasquet was close to taking the first two points on Djokovic’s serve at 4-all but he missed a smash. The first set came down to the tie-break. Gasquet hit his backhand down the line at 2-2 and Djokovic reeled off five consecutive points to win the win the first set.
In the second set Djokovic managed to convert on his second break point chance with a crosscourt forehand winner. Djokovic capitalized on his second break point in the third game. Gasquet fended off one match point at 3-5 30-40 but Djokovic clinched the win on his next service game.
Djokovic will be bidding to win his third Wimbledon title and tie his coach Boris Becker.
“The first set was very close. I thought Richard played really good tennis. It was really difficult for me at times to play any kind of ball to his backhand side because he was really going for it. Winning the first set tie-break was psycologically very helpful for the rest of the match,” said Djokovic.
