Federer happy to see 116-game serving streak end

Early in the third set of Andy Murray’s Wimbledon quarter-final against Canadian Vasek Pospisil the Centre Court scoreboard flashed a message warning of the impending shutdown of the London Underground.

Roger Federer has sailed into the Wimbledon semi-finals thanks to a comfortable straight-sets win over Gilles Simon.

But there is only one indoor grass court in the world and it must give Murray a significant advantage that he has experienced so many matches under the Wimbledon roof, including the 2012 final against his next opponent Roger Federer.

With Milos Raonic out, there is very little chance to win the tie particularly given it’s outdoors on clay.

One of Federer’s great characteristics is how much of his career has been injury-free and Murray doesn’t see the 33-year old quitting any time soon.

He has faced nobody ranked higher than 23 so far but things are about to get considerably trickier with second seed Federer looming on Friday.

“I’ve heard of it but then again I don’t keep count when I’m out there”, said Federer of moving past Arthurs’ record. Pospisil also had one break point, but was unable to convert it to gain any sort of foothold in the match.

A feat that had been beyond the skill-set of Ernests Gulbis, Florian Mayer, Ivo Karlovic, Andreas Seppi, Damir Dzumhur, Sam Querrey, Sam Groth and Roberto Bautista Agut, was pulled off by Simon in the second set of their quarter-final on Wednesday.

While Murray managed to hold serve with relative ease towards the start of the set, the Canadian came under increasing pressure and eventually cracked in the ninth game. Federer broke twice in the final set. “Obviously I would have liked to have been more fresh, but it’s still been a great week, just the beginning”. “The top players are expected to reach the final stages of these competitions, but still I’m happy to make my way through”.

A whipped Federer forehand that overshot the baseline in the 10th game handed Simon a glimmer of hope as the Swiss finally dropped his serve-the only problem for the Frenchman being that it merely drew him level at 5-5. “If we knew I would win Wimbledon and him Olympics, I think we both would have taken it. It was a great summer for us”, said the 17-time major victor.

“Roger’s extremely popular everywhere he goes, so it might not be as partisan a crowd or atmosphere as some matches that I play here”.

Federer found himself in the unfamiliar confines of Court One in a Wimbledon quarterfinal, although that didn’t stop Rod Laver – the last man to achieve the calendar-year grand slam in 1969 – from taking a courtside seat.

Gasquet won the first set and then the fourth to force a decider, and at Wimbledon there are no tiebreakers once you get to the fifth set.

Their most recent matchup came in the final of the Australian Open in January, when Williams won in straight sets for her 19th Grand Slam title.

“Every time we walk out with Jamie there are always a few Brits or a few Scottish fans out there”, said Peers.

“I wanted to win”, said the delighted victor.

Murray and Peers are the No 13 seeds in this year’s competition and while today will be the Scot’s first Wimbledon semi final in his preferred discipline, the elder Murray sibling isn’t surprised by their progress.

Murray’s victory was watched by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Centre Court, as well as a host of celebrities including David Beckham and Anthony Joshua. “I think it’s just something maybe they need to, you know, take a course on how to do it”.

Forty minutes later, they returned and Federer swiftly claimed the opener on the back of 15 winners to Simon’s four.

Murray was certainly unfazed, holding easily upon the restart and then claiming an all-important break at 5-5 when his fizzing backhand pass was too good for the diving Pospisil to retrieve.