Roger Federer does not lose Wimbledon semi-finals and he produced a display of clinical majesty to down Andy Murray and maintain his bid for a record eighth title with a sparkling 7-5 7-5 6-4 win yesterday.
The second-seeded Swiss reached his 10th final at the All England Club with a near-perfect demolition of home favourite Murray to set up a repeat of last year’s showpiece decider against world number one Novak Djokovic.
Murray could not lay a glove on the Federer serve and the Swiss upped the pressure at crucial stages of each set before wrapping up victory in two hours seven minutes when the British third seed sent a forehand wide.
“It’s been tough. Andy has been playing very well for the season,” Federer said.
“I’m unbelievably happy... I played so well on the biggest occasion today and that’s why I won it.
“I’ve been serving very well for the entire tournament. I kept the pressure up, I went for my shots and was able to mix it up the way I usually do it. It all worked out very well.”
Federer, who has won all 10 of the semi-finals he has played at Wimbledon, will now resume his rivalry with Serb Djokovic, who earlier booked his place in the final with a clinical 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4 defeat of gallant Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
Underdog Gasquet offered fans on a sun-baked Centre Court plenty of “oooh-aahh” moments with his trademark single-handed backhand but there were not enough to really concern the world number one who looked supreme.
There were a few more unforced errors than normal off the Djokovic racket in a tight first set but once he cruised through the tiebreak he bolted the door on the 21st seed whose wait for a first grand slam final continues.
In the second and third sets a miserly Djokovic made just nine unforced errors and his only slight concern was a stiff shoulder that needed a couple of visits from the trainer.
“It was a good performance, considering the occasion. It’s always tough. Richard had a great tournament and deserved to be in the semis,” said the eight-times grand slam champion.
“The first set could have gone his way, luckily it went to me.”
Gasquet used his lethal backhand to great effect early on, too, recovering from dropping his opening service game to break back with a flashing drive, played from shoulder height straight down the line.
At 4-4 he fired another beauty that Djokovic barely saw and then had the Serb on the run only to blaze a jump smash wide.
Those misses usually prove costly against the best and, although Gasquet continued to play with flair, he disintegrated somewhat in the tiebreak to gift Djokovic the opener.
Djokovic forged smoothly ahead early in the second set but offered a glimmer of hope at 5-4 when he went 0-30 down, only to dial up some unreturnable serves and pinpoint groundstrokes.
Hundreds of fans left their seats at the end of the second set to revive themselves for the day’s later blockbuster.
Djokovic did not keep them waiting too long, closing out the match with a single break of serve in the third set.