Federer fightback brings him closer to 8th Wimbledon title
However, the No. 3 seeded seven-time Wimbledon champion rallied from the massive deficit, including fighting off three match points to get the better of Cilic, 6-7 (4) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (9) 6-3, in five sets and earned his semi-final spot.
Apart from edging the 34-year-old ever closer to an unprecedented eighth men’s singles crown on London’s famous grass courts, Federer’s triumph also elevated him above Martina Navratilova as the most prolific victor of grand slam matches tennis has ever seen.
Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates at match point after beating Marin Cilic of Croatia in their men’s singles match on day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 6, 2016.
For two sets, anyway, that’s how it went.
The 34-year-old had reached the final at the All England Club in each of the past two years and had not dropped a set on his way to the quarter-finals.
Wednesday’s two other quarterfinals see 2013 victor Andy Murray face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych battle maiden grand slam quarterfinalist Lucas Pouille. They gave me so much information to see what I could do, what I couldn’t do, how I could play, how I couldn’t play.
This is a ideal description of the match by Roger Federer, who was down two sets to love against an inspired Marin Cilic. The first, on Federer’s second serve, was the best chance but Cilic cracked his forehand into the net, while the second was saved with an ace. Federer is now within two matches of an eighth Wimbledon crown and 18th major overall.
For a while, it looked as though Raonic would be meeting Cilic on Friday, but Federer came back from the brink to keep his quest for an 18th Grand Slam title alive.
“I wasn’t seeing his serves anymore”, Federer said.
Federer was always wary of Cilic given he was swept aside in the 2014 U.S. Open semifinals in straight sets, and it turns out he was right to be cautious.
Now coached by former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe, Raonic blitzed Querrey who had knocked out Novak Djokovic in the third round. He was playing very well and reading my serve and I couldn’t read his.
“You hope [you can still win at 2-0 down] but you don’t know”. “Probably not the biggest, but a big one”. I was very happy.’ Federer thinks the three hours of play today won’t affect him in the semifinals against Raonic: ‘My legs and back were there Especially from the third set and serving was key plus mentally this will give me a hell of a boost.
If Federer beats Cilic, he will equal Jimmy Connors’ record of reaching the Wimbledon semifinals 11 times. Though he was holding easily enough himself, Federer could not get a racket on the Cilic serve and the Croat played a superb tie-break, winning it 7-4, to take the first set and then one break, in the third game of the second, was enough to double his lead.
The 25-year-old Canadian reached his first grass-court final ahead of Wimbledon, losing to Andy Murray at Queen’s Club.
“He brought a lot to my game”, he said.
And in the end, the No. 3-seeded Federer prevailed 6-7 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3 in one of the great victories of his career – which is saying something.