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Roger Federer has advanced out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in what was undoubtedly one of his best ever victories, coming back from two sets down to win in five against Marin Cilic.
There was absolutely nothing between the two players in one of the best matches witnessed in many years at Wimbledon, or anywhere else for that matter.
While Federer wrapped it all up with a couple of big aces on serve, he never took the lead of the match until the final two games when he broke Cilic and then managed to serve it out.
There is a reason Federer is one of the greatest ever, and it was on display as he came back from what seemed like an unassailable deficit.
All credit to Cilic though because there was barely a moment when he dropped his intensity or incredibly good level of play – it’s just that Federer was a class above what he, or probably anyone on the world tour could offer.
Cilic took a while to assert dominance early on, but did in the tie-break as Federer struggled badly against his powerful serve. That trend, of Federer not returning serve well continued into the second set which allowed Cilic to take the big lead.
Federer seemed to be not moving well, just waiting back for the serve and it took until mid way through the third set, when he started yelling things on court to try and fire himself up when he started to get back into the match.
He would break during the third set to keep the match alive, before the fourth set went back and forth, but neither could break and it ended in a tie-break.
The tie-break went all the way to 11-9 with both players having countless chances to to put the match away, or in Federer’s case keep it alive. Eventually he would do just that.
The fifth set was far from a canter, but it was clear to feel the momentum turning towards Federer, and when he eventually broke serve and then finished off the match it completed one of the best comebacks of Federer’s career.
With Milos Raonic recording a four set victory over American Sam Querrey, the pair will now face off on Friday in the semi-finals.
Final score:
Roger Federer 6 4 6 7 6
Marin Cilic 7 6 3 6 3
Third seed Roger Federer looks to advance to the semi-finals of a grand slam for the second time this year when he takes on the refreshed ninth seed Marin Cilic at Wimbledon. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 10pm (AEST).
For Federer, it was Wimbledon 2012 when he last won a grand slam and with the world’s best player Novak Djokovic out of the tournament, being eliminated by Sam Querrey this looks to be the Fed’s best chance in a long time.
That becomes even more so the case when you look at how the draw has opened up for him, and also just how well he has played so far throughout the tournament.
He has almost looked like the Federer of old as he demolished Steve Johnson in the fourth round and he is still yet to lose a set throughout the tournament.
Just about ever facet of Federer’s game has been firing, which is half a surprise given his lead up form where he was knocked out in semi-finals twice and wasn’t dominating opponents.
His first three rounds saw straight set victories against Guido Pella, Marcus Willis and Daniel Evans.
Cilic meanwhile, finds himself in exactly the same position at Wimbledon as he has been in for the last two years where he was knocked out in the quarterfinals both times. They are his best performance at Wimbledon, but if he manages to get over Federer he has to be an odds on chance to make the final.
While Cilic did lose a set in the second round, he like Federer has been dominant. He will also be relatively fresh coming into this match given he played Kei Nishikori on Monday but did have to go past the second set as Nishikori retired.
While it could be put down to Nishikori’s injury, Cilic will be hoping it’s more than that as he raced out to a 6-1, 5-1 lead.
He had reasonable lead-up form as well, only falling to Andy Murray at the AEGON championships in London.
For Cilic to get over Federer, he has to make a fast start and use his massive serve, which has been winning him an average of around 20 aces a match to unsettle Federer.
The pair have previously played on six occasions, with Federer leading the head-to-head 5-1. Cilic took the last match though when the pair met in the semi-final of the 2014 US Open.
Prediction
Federer has been looking exceptionally strong. If it goes to five sets the younger, fitter Cilic could take it but I expect Federer to wrap it up before then.
Federer in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Wimbledon quarter-final from 10pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde