Federer, Murray overshadow Djokovic in Wimbledon duel

“We get on well”. “We get on well, but obviously, on Friday – different story”.

Plus, they have history on this particular patch of grass.

The 33-year-old pipped Murray to the 2012 Wimbledon title, before the Dunblane native gained a few revenge by beating Federer to the Olympic title later that summer.

Federer holds a 12-11 edge over Murray, taking the past three matchups.

“The stop-and-goes with the weather are tough but I think I used them to my advantage”, Federer told the BBC after his win.

Murray, 28, had to cope with two rain delays, the second of which saw the roof brought across in the second set.

Despite losing serve for the first time all tournament, Federer overwhelmed Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals at the All England Club for the 10th time, and to the final four of a Grand Slam tournament for the 37th time.

Andy Murray of Britain leaves the court after winning the men’s quarterfinal singles match Vasek Pospisil of Canada, at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Wednesday July 8, 2015.

Top seed Djokovic had not lost a match to the Croat in 12 previous meetings and his unbeaten record never looked in danger against the United States Open champion who failed to master the Serb’s precise groundstrokes.

The Scot, seeded third, won 6-4 7-5 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes, and will play second seed Roger Federer in the last four on Friday.

“It’s a great effort from Richard to win against Stan, who is in a terrific form, and five sets”, said Djokovic.

“I haven’t had great success against her. I would love to change that around”, Sharapova said.

Richard Gasquet produced a resilient performance to defeat French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in a pulsating five-set thriller to reach Wimbledon semi-finals.

He is breaking new ground on the men’s side with his competitive longevity, and is now just two victories away from an eighth Wimbledon title. The British hero, or the king of Centre Court, who happens never to have lost a semi-final at this event? He didn’t face a break point once and heads into his seventh Wimbledon semi-final. It was the last time that the 17-time Swiss grand slam champion had won a major title. “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”, Federer said.

He will need to play to the best of his ability to get the better of his semi-final opponent, who he last played at Wimbledon in the 2012 Olympics final, winning a month after being defeated in the grand slam final on the same court to the same player.

And yet when he was asked whether this is a “new” version of Gasquet, he said he hears that sort of question “every time I win a match”.

Gasquet was the last French man standing, after compatriot Gilles Simon fell to Roger Federer.

Not to be rattled, Federer broke Simon in the very next game.

“It was maybe only the last game he had break point on my serve but the rest of the time he didn’t have loads of opportunities there”. (Now) I can just focus on the normal things.

Certainly didn’t throw him off against Simon.

The second set went with serve until Djokovic marched 40-0 ahead and, though Cilic saved one break point with an ace he then netted a sliced backhand to go 5-4 behind.

“Reaction was always going to be important for me once the streak ended and the serve was broken”, he said.

“So it’s very impressive that he’s managed to stay at the top of the game for so long, considering how long he’s been at the top of the game for and how many matches he’s played”.

“It’s been good so far”.