CENTURION v GLADIATOR

Federer makes it 100 wins at Wimbledon to set up a titanic semi-final clash with his old rival Nadal

ROGER FEDERER racked up his record 100th Wimbledon victory to set up a blockbuster semi-final with Rafa Nadal.

And the Swiss superstar immediately insisted his last defeat to the Spaniard on the

French clay last month is irrelevant on grass.

A slow-burning men’s event will effectively start tomorrow with the Big

Three all reaching the last four together here for the first time since 2007.

And Federer and Nadal will meet for the 40th time – and for the first time at Wimbledon since their epic 2008 final.

Nadal won that in five sets, a classic lasting four hours and

48 minutes.

“It is 11 years since our last match here at Wimbledon,” said

Federer.

“That is a long time.

We will see. We are both on form. It will be a good match.

“Everyone knows everything about Rafa. I don’t need to tell you what his strengths and weaknesses are.

“People were saying it was the end for Rafa at one point with his injuries, similar to me in 2009. But we’re still here.

“People always hype it up. It was a joy to play against Rafa on his court at the French Open, and it will be to play him here at Wimbledon.”

Nadal leads their head-to-head record by 24-15, but Federer won six consecutive matches before losing the French Open semi-final to the 12-time champion.

Asked which past matches would have most relevance tomorrow, the 20-time Grand Slam winner said: “Not so much the French Open. It was so windy – it was just insane.

“Maybe the Australian Open final. Obviously, that is a best-offive-set match, too.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Who cares?

“It’s more about how has he played so far in this tournament, and how have I played so far. I hope it goes my way. It’s going to be tough. Rafa really can hurt anybody on any surface. He’s that good.

“He’s not just a clay-court specialist, we know.

“It’s impressive to see how sort of healthy he’s stayed.

“A lot of them were saying, ‘Oh, it’s the end, by 2008’. Similar to me in ’09. “We’re still here. So it’s nice to play each other again.” Nadal reached his seventh semi-final here by sweping aside the big-serving American Sam Querrey (left) 7-5 6-2 6-2. “Now to play against Roger always is a unique situation,” said the Mallorcan.

“I am excited to be back on this court against him after 11 years. It means a lot for me, and probably for him too.

“It is always I say the same. Of course the opportunities to play against each other every time are getting less, but we still here. And tomorrow we going to have another chance.

“We played a lot of good matches. Here in this tournament we played especially two great matches, 2007 and 2008. “Those were two very emotional matches. “Personally, the 2008 final was a little bit more emotional for me. But playing against

Roger is unique on this court.”

Eight-time Wimbledon champion Federer came back from dropping the opening set to see off No.8 seed Kei Nishikori 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 to become the first player in history to rack up 100 wins at a single Grand Slam event.

“It’s special,” he said. “It’s been a lot of years that I’ve been coming here. I didn’t think of it while I was playing today. Actually not at all, not once.

“Then as I’m signing, the guy says, ‘Congratulations for your 100’. Oh yeah, I didn’t know. I forgot!”