Wimbledon favourite Roger Federer will be out to continue his run through the tournament when he takes on veteran Tomas Berdych in the semi-final. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 12am – midnight (AEST).
Federer came into Wimbledon as favourite after winning the Australian Open in January, a damaging US hard court season and then skipping the entire clay season.
The Fed Express resumed his season with a shock first round loss on grass to Tommy Haas at Stuttgart, but went on to claim a ninth tournament in Halle, finding his form before Wimbledon.
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All of the time off was the best possible course of action for Federer and as a result, he is yet to be put under any pressure at Wimbledon, still not dropping a set to this stage of the tournament.
Alexandr Dolgopolov retired against him midway through the second set of their first round contest, and Federer easily overcame Dusan Lajovic in the second.
Since then, he has dominated a trio of seeded opponents as Mischa Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic all fell by the wayside. The quarter-final against Raonic was particularly impressive, with the big-serving Canadian unable to compete with the 18-time grand slam champion.
Berdych, on the other hand suffered a second round knock out at the French Open after a typically consistent start to 2017.
He then made the quarter-finals at Stuttgart and the AEGON Championships, before taking four sets to win each of his first two matches at Wimbledon against Jeremy Chardy and Ryan Harrison.
His third round victory over David Ferrer in straight sets was more dominant, before he took five sets to oversee Dominic Thiem.
He was well ahead against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final as well before the former world No.1 was forced to retire with an elbow injury, allowing Berdych to go through to the semi-finals.
If Berdych is to win, he must get a strong start to the match and serve at a high percentage. It’s not something that will be foreign to him, but serving at 59 per cent against Djokovic simply won’t be good enough against Federer.
The pair have a long history on the ATP tour. They have played 24 matches dating back to the 2004 Athens Olympics, with Federer leading the ledger 18-6. Berdych’s last win in the rivalry was way back in 2013, with Federer winning the last seven matches.
Of those 24 matches, only three have been played on grass and Federer has won two – in saying that, Berdych beat Federer at Wimbledon in 2010, stopping Federer in his charge to a second straight Wimbledon.
The winner of this match will meet either Marin Cilic or American Sam Querrey in the final.
Prediction
Federer is in a class of his own and having not played more than three sets in a match so far after all that time off will be more than equiped to go the distance if needed.
Federer in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the second men’s semi-final from around 12am – midnight (AEST) or at the completion of Marin Cilic versus Sam Querrey and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.