Follow the latest news and scores from Wimbledon 2016 on Wimbledon.com or Apple TV, or download the official IOS or Android apps for smartphone and tablet
Extraordinary. Exhausting. Exhilarating.
Roger Federer has known some breathtaking triumphs in his time, but at Wimbledon 2016 he came through one of the most astonishing quarter-finals the Centre Court has ever witnessed.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion was two sets down to Marin Cilic, with the Croat deploying his first serve to devastating effect and stifling Federer’s invention to boot.
A comeback seemed impossible – yet the Swiss saved three match points to win 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes to reach his 11th Wimbledon semi-final.
At 34, he becomes the oldest player to reach the last four here since 1974, and will face Milos Raonic for a place in Sunday’s final.
Improbably, Federer pronounced the match “great fun”, telling the BBC as he came off court: “I feel sorry for him [Cilic]. The dream continues. I knew I was in so much trouble – I wasn’t seeing his serves. He was reading my return and I couldn’t read his. I hoped his level would drop and I would get lucky. The [fourth set] breaker was crazy. Mentally this will give me a hell of a boost. I’m very, very pleased.”
Alas, it is unlikely Cilic will feel the same way. Before this, he had played 51 previous Grand Slam matches where he had gone two sets up – and not once had he ever been defeated from such a position.
Watched you fight back from 2 sets down and 0-40 down on your serve. Great fight back and fantastic spirit. All the best! @rogerfederer
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 6, 2016
Mentally this will give me a hell of a boost. I’m very, very pleased
With his opponent utterly at his mercy, this quarter-final should have been N0.52. It was the perfect antidote to all the build-up talk of revenge for Federer from their last meeting, when Cilic “brushed me aside like I was nothing” in that famous straight sets obliteration in the last four at Flushing Meadow two years ago.
For two-and-a-half sets here Cilic was utterly in command, and played so beautifully at the start of the third that it prompted memories of that 2014 run at the US Open, where he did not lose a set from the quarter-final onward. But at 3-3 came a crucial moment. Cilic strode to 0-40 on Federer’s serve, only to see all three chances go by. Federer celebrated his hold with a yelp, and watched as Cilic visibly tensed in the next game, giving away break point and promptly double faulting.
Yet even with that set in the bag, it still it seemed a horribly long way back for Federer. Early in the fourth Cilic fended off break points in style and seemed back on solid ground, nullifying any momentum against him.
At 5-4 on serve came his first match point, but Federer’s belief was steely. At 5-6 the Swiss saw off another with an ace, and the tie-break swung to and fro.
One moment Federer held two set points and fluffed a forehand into an open court; the next Cilic racked up match point three, only for Federer to save it with a second serve. Ultimately the No.3 seed would need five chances before he could take the match into the decider – and still it was too close to call.
If the Cilic of the first two sets could have reasserted himself, then enervation might have overcome his 34-year-old opponent.
Twice Federer had chances to break and could not convert, but at 4-3 he forced a third with a gorgeous crosscourt forehand right on the line. Cilic sealed his own fate with a tight forehand. At the death Federer aced his first match point, and while a tidal wave of cheers crashed on to the court, the world’s least ruffled human being was a picture of calm. Revenge was sweet indeed.
