Roger Federer fails to reach Wimbledon semifinals after being one point away.
Anderson upsets No. 1 seed to join Nadal, Isner and Djokovic in semis
WIMBLEDON, England — Wimbledon specializes in nostalgia, and it has been a year brimming with anniversaries. The tournament is commemorating its 150th, Open tennis is commemorating its 50th, and Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are commemorating their 10th since their final for the ages here in 2008.
But Wednesday’s quarterfinals at the All England Club, it was impossible to take your eyes off the present as Federer and Nadal, again the top two seeds, dueled with bigger men over five sets and more than four hours.
Wimbledon has rarely had a more compelling afternoon, and when dusk arrived, only Nadal was still in the tournament.
He achieved it by rallying to defeat Juan Martín del Potro 7-5, 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court in what will be one of the matches of the year.
By then, Federer was already down and out after losing 2-6, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11 to Kevin Anderson on the No. 1 Court, despite holding a match point in the third set.
“As the match went on, I couldn’t surprise him anymore,” said Federer, the No. 1 seed and defending champion. “That’s a bad feeling to have.”
The result was certainly a huge surprise: the eighth-seeded Anderson, a 32-year-old South African who lives in the United States, had not won a set in his four previous matches against Federer.
“I think the toughest thing players face when going out playing somebody like Roger in this setting is giving yourself a chance,” Anderson said. “I feel like the times that I’ve played him before … I haven’t really allowed myself to play.”
American advances
But Anderson, who has cracked at such moments in the past, was the one who held firmest this time.
It felt like the biggest victory of his long career — quite a statement for a man who reached the U.S. Open final last year.
“Down two sets to love, I really tried my best to just keep fighting,” Anderson said. “And I was able to scrape through that third set and the fourth set, and by the end, I felt I did a great job not thinking about things too much.”
Quieting the mind is as much a challenge as steadying the arm in situations like this. But Anderson was remarkably composed as he played what felt like an away match with all the Federer mania in evidence on No. 1 Court.
“I just kept on telling myself I had to keep believing,” Anderson said. “And I kept saying today was going to be my day.”
The match turned for good when Federer double-faulted for the first time in the match when serving at 11-11, 30-30. Anderson broke him on the next point and then served out the match, taking deep breaths between deliveries as he had throughout the 4-hour-14minute duel.
Anderson had 28 aces, but he is not just a big server. He can produce huge pace from the baseline as well, and he ultimately needed a combination of skills and a lot of mental strength to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal.
Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion, had not lost a set here since his five-set defeat to Milos Raonic in a 2016 semifinal.
That was his last tournament before taking a six-month break from the game to improve the condition of his postoperative knee. Since then, he has been a champion on a roll.
For Federer, who turns 37 in August, it was his earliest loss here since he was upset by Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round in 2013.
It was only the fifth time in Federer’s career that he lost a best-of-five match that he led two sets to none. The last time was at the semifinals of the U.S. Open in 2011 against Novak Djokovic.
Federer’s forehand, which had been so sharp in the early going, started producing errors. His serve, which had been practically infallible through four rounds, was broken three times.
Still, Federer had a match point with Anderson serving at 4-5 in the third set. And he was up by 0-40 on Anderson’s serve two games later and could not convert any of the break point opportunities. He won only three of 12 break points in the match, and Anderson did not even face a break point in the 24-game fifth set.
“It’s one of those average days you have to try to win the match,” said Federer, referring to his own level of play. “And I just couldn’t get it done today so it’s disappointing.”
Friday, the 6-8 Anderson will play another big server, American John Isner, who defeated Milos Raonic, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-3, to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal at age 33.
Isner had never even been past the third round in 10 previous appearances at Wimbledon, a place he called a “house of horrors” earlier in the tournament because of all of his quick exits and five-set losses. Isner is most famous for that recordbreaking victory over Nicolas Mahut in the first round eight years ago, which lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes spread out over three days.
“Of course, everyone is going to remember that match in 2010, and rightfully so. I like to think that, since that match, I've done a lot of good stuff on the court performancewise. But for a lot of people, that's definitely the lasting image of my career,” said the No. 9-seeded Isner, who is based in Dallas. “I think if I can keep going further here, I can maybe squash that.”
Old foes to meet again
Djokovic also advanced to the semifinals, defeating Kei Nishikori, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Djokovic, a 12time major champion, had not reached the final four of the Grand Slam event since the 2016 U.S. Open. He missed the second half of last season with an elbow injury.
Djokovic will play Nadal in the semifinals, their 52nd meeting.
Nadal rued failing to take control against del Potro much earlier.
Nadal could have gone up two sets to none after leading 6-3 in the tiebreaker. But he blew those three set points, the last with a double-fault he later called “a big mistake.”
Nadal wasted a fourth chance at 7-6, before letting 2009 U.S. Open champion del Potro grab three points in a row for that set.
“Emotional match for both of us,” said Nadal, who is ranked No. 1 and seeded No. 2 and won two of his 17 major championships at Wimbledon. “And for the fans, too.”