Federer demolishes Ancic to reach Wimbledon semi-finals

 

By AFP, 3 Jul 2008

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 Roger Federer, Wimbledon

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Roger Federer moved to within two victories of a record sixth successive Wimbledon title on Wednesday when he crushed Croatia’s Mario Ancic 6-1 7-5 6-4 in a brutally one-sided quarter-final.

Top seed Federer, who will face either Spain’s Feliciano Lopez or former world number one Marat Safin for a place in the final, progressed to an amazing 17th consecutive grand slam semi-final, a run stretching back over four years.

Ancic, a former top 10 player who’s still feeling his way back after battling glandular fever and injury, was the last man to beat Federer on grass – having downed the Swiss master in the first round in 2002.

But he has lost all six subsequent meetings.

Federer, now with 64 wins in a row on grass, stormed through the first set in just 20 minutes breaking the 24-year-old Croatian in the second and sixth games and giving up just a single point in four service games.

At 6-1 and 1-1 in the second set, rain forced the players off Centre Court for over two hours but on the resumption, Ancic briefly rediscovered his composure.

However, a poor volley followed by a second double fault of the match on break point in the 11th game gave Federer a 6-5 lead which the champion converted into a two-set lead with a ninth ace after only 56 minutes on court.

A marathon opening game of the third set, which lasted 16 minutes, went in Ancic’s favour before Federer again broke, this time in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.

Ancic, a semi-finalist in 2004 and who spent almost four hours coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Fernando Verdasco in the last round, was understandably wilting.

Federer swept to victory courtesy of his 15th ace after only one hour 42 minutes of action.