Epic Federer-Djokovic final
Murray, Gasquet no match for the top two seeds
ROGER Federer does not lose Wimbledon semifinals and he produced a display of clinical majesty to down Andy Murray and maintain his bid for a record eighth title with a sparkling 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 win yesterday.
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 No 1 Novak 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 and 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, who earlier booked his place in the final with a straight sets win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
Defending champion Djokovic emphatically booked his place in a fourth Wimbledon final with a clinical 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 defeat of gallant Gasquet.
Underdog Gasquet offered fans on a sun-baked Centre Court plenty of “oooh-aahh” moments with his trademark single-handed backhand but there were not enough to really concern the world No 1, who looked supreme.
There were a few more unforced errors than normal off the Djokovic racket in a tight first set but once he cruised through the tiebreak, he bolted the door on the 21st seed, whose wait for a first Grand Slam final continues.
In the second and third sets, a miserly Djokovic made just nine unforced errors and his only slight concern was a stiff shoulder that needed a couple of visits from the trainer.
“It was a good performance, considering the occasion. It’s always tough.
“Richard had a great tournament and deserved to be in the semis,” said the eight-time Grand Slam champion.
“The first set could have gone his way, luckily it went my way.”
The pre-match statistics did not give 29-year-old Gasquet’s many admirers cause for optimism.
Djokovic had beaten him 11 times out of 12, had lost one of his previous 31 matches against the Frenchman and had not lost to a player ranked as low as Gasquet in a Grand Slam arena for five years.
Gasquet does possess arguably the most lethal backhand in the game though, and arrived on court fuelled with the confidence of winning a five-set quarter-final thriller against Stanislas Wawrinka, the man who stunned Djokovic in the French Open final. – Reuters