Federer out, Nadal to meet Djokovic
ROGER Federer admitted he was shell-shocked as the Swiss star struggled to come to terms with his “terrible” Wimbledon quarter-final exit against Kevin Anderson.
Federer suffered one of the most stunning defeats of his career, blowing a two-set lead and wasting a match point in a 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11 loss.
While Federer’s bid to win a ninth Wimbledon title came to an astonishing end in a nailbiting 4hr 13min classic, Rafael Nadal edged Juan Martin del Potro and will now meet Novak Djokovic in tonight’s semi-finals.
It was 36-year-old Federer’s earliest exit at the All England Club since his shock secondround defeat against Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2013.
“Sometimes you don’t feel good and you try your best,” Federer said.
“Today was one of those days. I didn’t see it coming.
“I had moments where I was great, I felt like I was reading his serve, other moments where I don’t know where the hell I was moving to.
“As the match went on, I couldn’t surprise him any more. That’s a bad feeling.”
Eighth seed Anderson will play American ninth seed John Isner tonight for a place in Sunday night’s final.
Isner made the semi-finals of a major for the first time with a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-3 win over 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic.
Three-time champion Djokovic reached his first semi-final at the majors in more than two years by seeing off Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The 12-time Slam champion will face Nadal, who beat del Potro 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 after 4hr 48min on Centre Court to reach his sixth Wimbledon semi-final and 28th at the majors.
“I think it was great, quality tennis and in the final set there were some amazing points,” world No.1 Nadal said.
“Anything could have happened, so this is a big achievement for me to get to the semifinals at Wimbledon.”
Djokovic, who leads his epic head-to-head rivalry with Nadal 26-25, reached his eighth Wimbledon semi-final and 32nd at the majors after a stormy clash against Nishikori.
The 12-time major winner prevailed despite picking up two code violations and accusing umpire Carlos Ramos of “double standards”.
“I think the first warning was unnecessary,” said Djokovic, who was sanctioned in the second set for spearing his racquet into the court.
“Kei did the same in the fourth set but wasn’t warned.”