London: Six-time champion Roger Federer reached a record eighth Wimbledon final here on Friday when he defeated world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3.
In the pair’s 27th meeting but first on grass, Federer booked his place in his 24th Grand Slam final where he will face Andy Murray who ended Britain’s 74-year wait for a male Wimbledon finalist after clinching a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 semifinal victory over French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Victory on Sunday will take the 30-year-old level with Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon wins, allow him to reclaim the world number one ranking and clinch a 17th career Grand Slam crown.
Djokovic, who was bidding to reach a fifth successive Grand Slam final, had defeated Federer six times in their last seven meetings. But Federer, playing in a record 23rd successive major semi-final, was not to be denied as he buried the heartache of having been knocked out in the quarter-finals in the last two years.
He also took his record of semi-final victories to eight out of eight at the All England Club.
Meanwhile, Murray’s triumph consigned a miserable run of 11 semifinal failures by British men to the history books and emulated the achievement of Bunny Austin, the last home challenger to reach the Wimbledon men’s final back in 1938. The 25-year-old had lost at the semifinal stage for the last three years, joining Tim Henman, Roger Taylor and Mike Sangster on the list of British near-misses at the All England Club. (Agencies)
