Federer advances at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England - Seven-time champion Roger Federer rallied from two sets down and fought off three match points in the fourth set to advance to the Wimbledon men’s semifinals on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Federer made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon for the 11th time, beating No. 9 Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-7 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 in a 3-hour, 17-minute quarterfinal battle on Centre Court.
“The dream continues. I couldn’t be happier,” Federer told BBC Television after the match. “I fought well and played super great at the end.”
No. 2 Andy Murray of Great Britain, the 2013 champion, held on to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6 (12-10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the seventh time.
Federer, who turns 35 next month, is the oldest man to reach the semifinals at the All England Club in London since 39-year-old Ken Rosewall was runner-up in 1974.
“I fought, I tried, I believed,” Federer said. “At the end, I got it done.”
In the fourth set, the 6-foot-6 Cilic had three match points but failed to convert any of them. On two of the match points, Cilic saw a Federer second serve but couldn’t put either ball in play.
The two played a tie-break that saw Federer erase one of those match points and Cilic save four set points. Federer evened the match on his serve after 20 points.
In the fifth set, Federer broke Cilic at 4-3 and served out the set and the match, ending the memorable contest with two of his seven aces.
“To test the body, to be out there again fighting, being in a physical battle - and winning it - is an unbelievable feeling,” Federer said. “Yeah, I mean, it was an emotional win.”
Cilic was 51-0 at Grand Slam championships when taking the first two sets. Coming back from two sets down is familiar to Federer, who has done it nine times in his career.
“Well, a lot happened out there,” Federer said. “I knew I was in so much trouble in the third, and then again in the fourth. I’m really, really pleased and just ecstatic I was able to come through somehow.”
Federer is now two wins away from the all-time record for Wimbledon men’s titles. He is currently tied with Pete Sampras and 1880s player William Renshaw with seven.
Federer will next play Canadian Milos Raonic in the semifinals on Friday. Federer will be in his 40th Grand Slam semifinal.
The sixth-seeded Raonic lost serve only once to defeat American Sam Querrey, the 28th seed, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. The 6-foot-5 Raonic broke Querrey three times, including in the final game to end the match.
Querrey had knocked out No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round last Saturday. Querrey was trying to become the first American to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick in 2009 at Wimbledon.
Raonic previously reached the semifinals at the All England Club in 2014, losing to Federer in straight sets.
The other semifinal on Friday will feature Murray against No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, who beat No. 32 Lucas Pouille of France 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.
Murray, who in 2013 became the first British man to win the title at Wimbledon in 77 years, reached his 20th semifinal at any major tournament with his win against the 12th-seeded Tsonga.
“Tsonga’s one of the best grass-court players in the world,” Murray told the BBC after the match. “He came up with some unbelievable passing shots on the run in big moments, started returning better. He mixed it up well, so credit to him for fighting his way back into the match.
“He played extremely well. That first set was a tough one for him to lose, and I ran away with the second but he fought right until the end and it was a great match.”