ROGER FEDERER WAS victorious in his epic five-set tussle with Marin Cilic, winning 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 , 6 -3 in today’s quarter-final at Wimbledon.
The Swiss great battled back, saving three match points on the way from two sets down to force the match to go the full distance on centre court and served his way to a record-equalling 11th semi-final against Milos Raonic.
The 34-year-old seven-time champion also claimed a new record for Grand Slam match wins of 307 as he made a 40th semi-final at the majors.
Earlier, Raonic advanced to his second Wimbledon semi-final as the big-serving Canadian ended Sam Querrey’s surprise run to the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory..
Raonic is the first Canadian to make the last four at the All England Club more than once. Now coached by former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe, Raonic blitzed Querrey who had knocked out Novak Djokovic in the third round.
He hit 58 winners and served 13 aces and finally looks capable of fulfilling the potential that saw his ear-marked as a future star several years ago.
“There were some momentum shifts there. I’m glad I was able to get back on the right path after he won the third,” Raonic said after tying Eugenie Bouchard’s Canadian record reaching of three Slam semis.
Raonic possesses a best-ever serve of 143mph which is especially potent on grass and carried him to the Wimbledon semi-finals two years ago and the Queen’s Club final last month.
Querrey has a ferocious serve of his own and, having hammered their way into the quarter-finals with a combined 198 aces, it was no surprise to see few prolonged rallies in a Court One slug-fest.
Brute force was the name of the game and, heeding McEnroe’s call to be even more aggressive in his mindset, it was Raonic who seized the initiative with a solitary break to take the first set.
Given the dominance of his serve, Raonic needed only one chance to break and win the second set as well.
Querrey kept plugging away and finally got his reward in the 11th game of third set when he converted his first break point of the match with a cool backhand volley. But Raonic wouldn’t be denied and he sealed a deserved victory with a clinical break in the fourth set.
