Federer dominates Ancic to reach semi-finals
Federer showed he was back to his best against Ancic
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Wednesday, 02, Jul 2008 10:49
Roger Federer remains on course to capture his sixth Wimbledon crown following a comprehensive straight sets win over Mario Ancic.
The world number one is yet to drop a set in the tournament and negotiated several rain delays to dispatch Ancic 6-1 7-5 6-4.
After an initial hold-up due to the weather Federer reeled off the first set in a mere 20 minutes, allowing Ancic to win just ten points in the whole set, winning it 6-1.
Rain fell again at SW19 at the beginning of the second set and provided Ancic a much-needed respite.
Following the delay the Croatian put up a better fight in the second set and managed to stay on serve until it reached 5-5.
Federer put Ancic under pressure before a double-fault handed the Swiss star the break of serve he was looking for. Federer duly served out to win the set 7-5.
The third set began with an epic game which lasted 16 minutes on the Ancic serve. Both players had numerous chances to win it as the game ebbed and flowed between advantage and deuce before Ancic eventually held serve.
However, it was not long before Federer gained the breakthrough his performance deserved and he took the set 6-4 to progress into the semi-finals.
He will play Marat Safin in the final-four after the Russian came from a set down to beat Feliciano Lopez 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7/1) 6-3.
Lopez started well and was 5-2 ahead in the first set before a rain delay. Although he still won the first set the rain-break allowed Safin back into the match.
Safin began to dictate the match and one break in the second set was enough to get him back on level terms. The world number 75 claimed a third set tie-break and was able to complete the comeback with another solitary break in the fourth set.
The remaining quarter-final between Germany's Rainer Schuettler and France's Arnaud Clement is finely poised at one-set-all.
Schuettler claimed the first set 6-4 before a late break of serve in the second set allowed Clement to get back to parity before the players were forced to abandon the match late in the evening. They will complete their match tomorrow after the ladies' singles semi-finals.