Relentless Federer near the summit
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday July 4, 2009
ROGER FEDERER has moved to within one victory of standing alone atop his sport's Mount Everest, following a comprehensive victory in his Wimbledon semi-final.His win over Germany's Tommy Haas leaves the Swiss champion poised to seize a sixth Wimbledon crown and an unprecedented 15th grand slam title.If the pressure to set that historic mark has been intense here in the absence of his recent nemesis Rafael Nadal, Federer seldom looked likely to stumble against the veteran Haas during a routine 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-3 victory. Federer said the pressure of pursuing records did not bother him. "I have had a lot of pressure over the years, this is just another great opportunity to get into the history books," he said.While Federer's play never quite rose to its potential heights, it was an efficient performance nonetheless against the dogged Haas, who never looked like causing an upset, yet clung on through three tight sets.If the pursuit of Pete Sampras's grand slam record has put the other phenomenal numbers Federer continues to accumulate throughout his epic grand slam journey in the shade, his semi-final victory created some history of its own.It meant Federer will play a seventh consecutive Wimbledon final, a record since the abolition of the challenge round in 1922 whereby the defending champion was automatically elevated to the final. The win also broke Federer's tie with Bjorn Borg (a finalist from 1976-81), who was court-side, along with Rod Laver.This will also be Federer's 20th grand slam final, one more than Ivan Lendl, with whom he had shared the all-time record. The 27-year-old has played in 15 of the last 16 grand slam finals a streak broken at the 2008 Australian Open and has won 10 of those.Throughout a performance on Friday in which Federer's concentration and consistency were as important as his array of ornate strokes, there was little to suggest he is in anything but well placed to seize the famous title No.15. Against an opponent who nagged away rather than demanded an emphatic response, perhaps the only question was whether the Swiss can yet again elevate his game to the level that might be required in the face of a more enterprising opponent.Federer had entered his 21st consecutive grand slam semi - yes, also a record - with a 9-2 career record against Haas and not lost to the German since the fourth round of the 2002 Australian Open. However, in their last meeting at the French Open, the German had won the first two sets and, until a mid-match collapse, looked like depriving the Swiss of the title he needed to complete his career grand slam.Only in the early stages did Haas again look like he was capable of stretching Federer with neither player able to make an impression on their opponent's serve. But with Federer starting to read Haas's delivery and apply more pressure, the German played an untidy tie-breaker, an unforced error on the backhand taking the score to 3-6 and another netted backhand giving the Swiss the set and considerably easing any pressure he might have felt.Not that Federer seemed weighed down by his pursuit of history. The Swiss pounced at the vital moments forcing the first break of serve of the match to win the second set and converting the fifth break point at 3-4 in the third to close in on the match and his piece of history.Earlier, highly rated Australian prospect Bernard Tomic was knocked out in the semi-finals of the boy's tournament, going down to Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).Tomic overcome a slow start in a grinding second set and held set point in the tie-breaker. However, the Russian eventually prevailed in an incredible 45-stroke baseline rally on match point, with the Australian finally relenting when his backhand went into the net.smh.com.au For result of Murray v Roddicksemi-final
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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