Roger Federer was at his regal best as he floated into the Wimbledon semi-finals with a silky 6-3 7-5 6-2 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon yesterday.
Federer was broken for the first time at this year’s championships but apart from that blip he did not put a foot wrong as he reached his 37th grand slam semi-final, and 10th at the All England Club.
Such was the seven-times champion’s command of the match that the only thing that could halt the Swiss second seed’s charge was two separate 40-minute rain breaks on No. 1 Court.
Simon did earn some bragging rights for finally breaking the mighty Federer serve after 116 holds, stretching back to the first round of last month’s Halle Open, but otherwise he could only watch in wonder at the winners flying off the Swiss maestro’s strings.
A high backhand volley dinked away at the net ended Simon’s misery as Federer booked a semi-final against Andy Murray who stayed on course for a second Wimbledon title with a 6-4 7-5 6-4 quarter-final defeat of Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.
A match that started under grey skies and finished under Centre Court’s roof because of rain showers was never straightforward for the third seed but his grand slam pedigree told in the important moments.
Cheered on by a full house that included Prince William, his wife the Duchess of Cambridge and former England soccer captain David Beckham, Murray broke serve in the third game of the match and was leading 3-1 when light rain forced a suspension of play.
On the resumption, Murray resisted some eye-catching tennis from the quarter-final debutant but moved a set ahead when 25-year-old Pospisil netted a forehand.
Another rain break in the second set with Murray down 4-3, which this time prompted the roof to close, seemed to unsettle Pospisil and he dropped serve at 5-5 when he was left floundering at the net by a dipping Murray backhand.
Murray pressed hard in the third set but Pospisil did not crack and even when Murray served for the match at 5-4 Pospisil earned his first break point of the match.
He could not take it though and Murray secured the win on his second match point to reach his sixth Wimbledon semi-final.
Later, Novak Djokovic won the battle of grand slam champions by downing Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court.
Top seed Djokovic had not lost a match to the Croat in 12 previous meetings and his unbeaten record never looked in danger against the US Open champion who failed to master the Serb’s precise groundstrokes.
The holder made it into his 27th grand slam semi with his 50th Wimbledon win, only the seventh man to reach that number of victories, and was surely relieved to have an easy time of it.
“I didn’t know how my body was going to feel but I was hoping I would play well, which I have done,” said Djokovic, who was playing for the third day running after his contest against Anderson spilled over into a second day.
In the last match of the day, Richard Gasquet sent French Open champion Stan Wawrinka flying out, winning the battle of the slingshot backhands 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-4 11-9 to book a match against Djokovic in the last four.
Wawrinka, bidding for a rare French Open and Wimbledon double, looked out of sorts from the first set, spraying his groundstrokes uncharacteristically long and wide and failing to tame the backhand of the 21st-seeded Gasquet.