Wimbledon 2008 - Could this be the third time that Federer and Nadal battle it out on Centre Court for the Wimbledon 2008 Championship? Highly likely at the rate these two are playing at the moment.
Federer kept up his impressive record at the All England Club this year by thrashing Mario Ancic 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his 17th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final.
Rafael Nadal was on after Federer and produced an even more impressive feat by beating Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Federer now faces former world No1. Marat Safin, who narrowly defeated Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3. Nadal will either be up against Arnaud Clement or Rainer Schuettler.
If Federer and Nadal can win those matches they will be up against each other in a Grand Slam final for the sixth time and the 14th in all tournaments.
Nadal’s confidence is at an impressive high, and after thrashing Federer in the French Open final last month, he will in no doubt, be up for winning Wimbledon 2008 Final if he makes it. But he has yet Federer on grass, losing to him in 2 successive Wimbledon finals.
Safin beat Federer the last time they met in a Grand Slam semi-final at the 2005 Australian Open, so the defending champion has no intention of underestimating his next opponent.
“I never looked at Safin like No. 89 in the world. That’s ridiculous. He knows that himself,” Federer said.”He’s finally showing again what he can do. It’s just quite surprising he does it here at Wimbledon in some ways, because he used to dislike playing on this surface.
“But I feel so comfortable on this Centre Court that my confidence level is obviously very high.”
Nadal (after defeating Scotsman Andy Murray) admitted he had never played better at a Wimbledon Tournament.
“I played probably my best match against a difficult opponent,” he said. “I was very aggressive on my forehand and backhand and had a lot of power. But I was surprised to win in straight sets and I’m happy to be in the semi-finals.”
Safin looked extremely upset when he was given a warning for ball abuse and dropped the first set, but he made an impressive comback to defeat the Spanish 31st seed.
“I want to believe I’m back. I have gone up a few steps in the rankings, back in the top 50, which is great. No matter what I do against Roger it has been a great two weeks,” Safin said.
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