Federer does not lose Wimbledon semi-finals and he produced
a display of clinical majesty to down Murray and maintain his bid for a record
eighth title with a sparkling 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 win on Saturday morning.
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 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 probably 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 in the keenly
awaited decider.
Djokovic rates Federer the greatest ever player and says the
Swiss great has made him a better player.
"He's one of the people that actually made me a better
player," Djokovic said.
"In the matches against him, I went through a lot of
different emotions and things that allowed me to understand what I need to do
to become a better player and to win against him and win grand slam
trophies."
Djokovic will meet Roger Federer in a sizzling final after
the Swiss master beat home favourite Andy Murray in straight sets.
Gasquet provided plenty of fight, primarily via the stylish
single-handed backhand that helped him beat French Open champion Stanislas
Wawrinka in the last eight, but Djokovic was unmoved.
Despite needing treatment on his shoulder during the second
set, defending champion Djokovic's place in a fourth Wimbledon final never
really appeared in jeopardy.
It looked ominous for 21st seed Gasquet when he lost his
opening service game but he hit back immediately with a rasping backhand winner
and earned himself a tiebreak.
Some untimely groundstroke errors from Gasquet rather gifted
Djokovic the breaker 7-2.
Djokovic dominated the second set but offered the Frenchman
a glimmer of hope at 5-4 when he went 0-30 down, only to slam the door shut
with some pinpoint serving.
With an inevitability about the outcome hundreds of fans
left their seats at the end of the second set to revive themselves for the
blockbuster semi-final between Murray and Federer later on centre court.
Djokovic did not keep them waiting too long, closing out a
12th win in 13 matches against the gallant Gasquet with a single break of serve
in the third set after two hours and 20 minutes.
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