Roger Federer wastes match point, loses to Anderson at Wimbledon

● Djokovic, Nadal and Isner complete the semi-final line-up

Roger Federer was a point away from a rather tidy, straight-set victory in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. One lousy point.

And then, slowly, over the next two-plus hours, all the way until the fifth set reached its 24th game, as the temperature dropped and the spectators' cries of "Let's go, Roger!" echoed through the shadows, everything came apart for the eight-time champion against an opponent who'd never beaten him before nor made it this far at the All England Club.

In a stunning turnaround in an unfamiliar setting — No. 1 Court instead of Centre Court — the top-seeded Federer blew a thirdset 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 on Wednesday in a 4hour, 14-minute tussle.

"It was just one of those days where you hope to get by somehow," Federer said. "I almost could have. I should have."

He was leading by two sets and 5-4 in the third when, with Anderson serving, he got to Ad-Out. Could have ended things right then and there. Federer managed to return a 134 mph serve, but on his next stroke, he shanked a backhand.

Back to deuce. From there, it all began to change. Anderson held for 5-all, broke to 6-5 with a violent return winner off a 97 mph second serve, then staved off three break points and closed the set with a 133 mph ace.

The comeback was just beginning.

"I had my chances," Federer said, "so it's disappointing."

This was only the third time in Federer's 20 years of contesting Grand Slam matches that he lost one after taking the opening two sets; both of the other defeats came in 2011. And, according to the ATP, it's the fifth time Federer lost a match at a major tournament after holding a match point, something else that last happened seven years ago.

Federer came into the match having won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, a run he stretched to 34 before faltering. And he had held serve 81 games in a row at the grass-court major, a streak that grew to 85 before Anderson broke him a surprising total of four times.

"I just kept on telling myself, 'I have to keep believing.' I kept saying that today was going to be my day, because you really need that mindset taking the court against somebody like Roger," Anderson said. "If you go out there with doubts or unsure what's going to happen, like I maybe did a little bit in that first set, it's not going to go your way."

Three-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic got his wish to play in the main stadium, and he reached his first Grand Slam semifinal since 2016 by beating No. 24 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Djokovic is a 12-time major champion who's been in something of a rut, due to right elbow troubles that lasted more than a year until he finally had surgery in February.

He's been flashing some anger this fortnight and did so again in the second set, bouncing his racket off the turf after failing to capitalize on three break points at 1-all. That earned a code violation from chair umpire Carlos Ramos. When Nishikori let his own racket fly in the fourth set, he wasn't chastised, which prompted Djokovic to yell "double standards" toward Ramos — drawing boos from fans.

"He claims that he didn't see what Nishikori has done, but apparently he always sees what I do," Djokovic said afterward, "something that I don't think is fair."

Later, Ramos warned Djokovic for a time violation, but that didn't seem to faze the Serb.

"I like the level of tennis that I'm playing on right now. I really do. I think with the performances I've had, I deserve to be in the semifinals," said Djokovic, whose last major title came at the 2016 French Open. "I don't want to stop here. I hope I can get a chance to fight for a trophy."

John Isner has reached his first Grand Slam semifinal on his 41st appearance.

The hard-serving American beat Milos Raonic of Canada 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Kevin Anderson of South Africa in Wimbledon's last four.

Isner's 41 attempts to make a semifinal at a major is the second most in the 50-year professional era, behind Sam Querrey, who made the last four at Wimbledon last year with his 42nd try.

Isner has yet to be broken at this year's tournament and saved the only break point he faced on Wednesday. Raonic hit 31 aces to Isner's 25 but was broken three times, including the last game of the match.

In the last quarter final of the day, world’s No 1 Rafael Nadal was stretched to the limits by Juan Martin Del Potro.

The Spaniard won this five-set thriller 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and now faces Nokav Djokovic in the semi-final.