Roger, over and out

London (AP) — Roger Federer was a point away from a rather tidy, straightset victory in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. One lousy point.

And then, slowly, over the next two-plus hours, all the way until the fifth set reached its 24th game, everything came apart for the eight-time champion. Against an opponent who’d never beaten him nor made it this far at the All England Club.

In a stunning turnaround, the top-seeded Federer blew a third-set match point and, eventually, all of his big lead in a 2-6, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11 loss to No. 8 Kevin Anderson Wednesday, While Federer’s tournament is over, two of his long-time rivals at the top of tennis set up a semifinal showdown: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Friday’s other semifinal will see Anderson facing No. 9 John Isner, the 33-year-old American who reached his first major semifinal in his 41st try by eliminating 2016 runner-up and Canadian Milos Raonic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-3.