Fab Federer powers into final
Roger Federer cruises into seventh straight Wimbledon final after beating Tommy Haas
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By James Christie. |  |
Friday, 03, Jul 2009 03:10
Roger Federer reached his seventh successive Wimbledon final today with a performance that suggests his form is even better than it was when he won the French Open last month.
His semi-final opponent almost denied him glory at Roland Garros, but Tommy Haas could not reproduce his Paris heroics and was easily beaten 7-6 7-5 6-3.
The outlook seemed brighter for Haas at the start of the match.
Serve-volleying from the off, he survived being taken to deuce in the opening game to take a 1-0 lead just after a male spectator with a deep voice shouted out "I love you Roger!"
Tension as well as love was in the air as both players proved quite capable of winning points off each other's serves in the early games.
But the appearance of equality was little more than an illusion.
Although Haas served just enough aces and deep second serves to keep Federer's returning game at bay, it was the highest-ranked player who clinched the tiebreak with the loss of just three points.
It might have been closer had the German's ability to stay in rallies been matched with an ability to hit outright winners.
With this at the back of his mind it was also worrying that he barely got a look at the Federer second serve during the second set, putting extra pressure on his own serve.
A double fault and a netted volley gave Federer a set point for a two-set lead in the ninth game and only some fine service winners saved the number 24 seed.
But against Federer no man can survive on good serves alone. Perversely Haas saved some of his best tennis when serving in vain to reach the tiebreak.
His shots manoeuvred his rival all over the court but also opened up some inviting angles for the Swiss to exploit.
And those invitations were gratefully accepted to provide the first service break of the match, giving Federer the second set 7-5.
Comedy now seemed the only weapon the German could use effectively - waving his arms like a drowning man at the net to make a smirking Federer sky an easily-gettable drop shot out of court.
When the tears of laughter produced by the incident had long since dried, Haas found himself in serious trouble again after foot-faulting during the eighth game.
And at 3-4 down, he finally conceded the game on the fifth break point.
The speed with which Federer closed out the set 6-3 suggests he has been watching Andy Murray's third set against Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Whichever Andy takes on the five-time champion on Sunday will have their hands full against a player whose game is in particularly good nick and whose confidence level - even for a man with 14 major titles - is at an all-time high.
James Christie