Men’s quarterfinals underway at Wimbledon

“I’ll have to have a look and see some of his matches to get an idea of maybe some of the things he does differently on the grass courts, what his strengths are, maybe some of the things he struggles with a bit”.

Asked about how the Scot would cope with having the hopes of a nation on him, Dance said: “What pressure, to have to play with that. Andy was a little better than me on this last set”.

To which he responded, still grinning: “I’m not”. Is it that bad?”, before adding: “There’s a lot more hopes than me. I am happy to be through to the semi-final.

“Hopefully I can win a couple more”.

The world number two is through to the last four at the All England Club for the seventh time in the last eight years and will play Tomas Berdych on Friday.

Raonic will face the victor of the other semifinal between local favourite Andy Murray and Czech Tomas Berdych.

Ivanisevic masterminded compatriot Cilic’s US Open title triumph in 2014, a victory which also saw him blast Federer off the court in the semi-finals.

Andy Murray of Britain celebrates after defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during their men’s singles quarterfinal match on day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 6, 2016.

Both men wasted three set points apiece in the ensuing tie-break before Murray pocketed it, just about fair reward for his high-speed scrambling.

The World No.12 consistently attacked the net, played some attractive volleys and hit some stunning winners on the run.

Berdych, the 2010 runner-up at the All England Club, was playing for the third straight day.

But Friday’s match throws up a new dynamic as he and 10th seed Berdych have never met on grass.

“There were also a couple of matches (against Murray), the one at the US Open, which was a bit unlucky for me”.

Berdych will next face either 2013 champion Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals.

“I was very anxious coming here”, the third-seeded Federer acknowledged after saving three match points and coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Marin Cilic 6-7 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3 in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

“There were many more match points in my mind than just three today”.

Federer won the third set 6-3 after losing the first two 7-6 (4), 6-4.

This is the 25-year-old Canadian’s second Wimbledon semifinal. But mostly it’s the fact that that was the first time when I showed myself that I can play well for two weeks.

On No. 1 Court, Milos Raonic leads Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5.

He too will have the crowd at his back along with a smattering of A-list support if his epic quarter-final win over Marin Cilic was any guide.

He ended a scintillating 20-stroke rally with a volley to move 6-4 ahead in the breaker, but Murray replied with an ace and devilish service return to set up a routine pass.

Five-time champion Venus takes on Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova after becoming the oldest Wimbledon women’s quarter-finalist for 22 years.