Federer Completes Cilic Comeback To Reach Wimbledon Semis
Roger Federer had his back against the wall and was on the verge of elimination before launching a stunning comeback on Wednesday. The seven-time champion came back from sets down to upend former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
It was the tenth time in his career that Federer completed a two sets to love comeback.
“The dream continues,” Federer said afterwards. “I couldn’t be happier. I fought well and played super great at the end.”
Cilic was playing nearly flawless tennis in the opening two sets. After taking the opening set in a tiebreaker, Cilic snagged the second set’s lone break for a 2-1 lead. He would convert on 80 percent of his first serves and saved the only break point he faced in the set to take the commanding lead.
But Federer would not go quietly. With the third set on serve at 3-3, Federer won a key game at deuce, securing a break point after a Cilic backhand error. Federer would relinquish nothing on his own serve in that set, saving all three of the break points he faced to force a fourth set.
The fourth set saw both players fire away from the service line. Federer hit eight aces and Cilic added five of his own, and both saved break points which led the set into a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Cilic saved four set points and Federer saved one match point, outlasting the Croat 11-9 to force a deciding fifth set.
With momentum on his side, Federer broke for a 4-3 lead in the decider and never looked back, firing back to back aces in the final game to book his spot in the final four.
The win is Federer’s 84th at Wimbledon, tying him with Jimmy Connors for the most match wins by a man in the Open Era.
He will take on Canada’s Milos Raonic in the semis. The sixth-seed Raonic ended the run of American Sam Querrey, beating the 28th seed 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Raonic hit 13 aces and won 87 percent of the points on his first serve, overpowering Querrey to reach his second career Grand Slam semifinal.
“It’s a well-deserved win for me, to have another shot in a semifinal,” said Raonic, who also reached the semifinals at the Australian Open earlier this year. “It’s exciting and it’s also humbling at the same time.”
Federer leads the all-time series 9-2 against Raonic, but Raonic bested Federer in the most recent meeting this year, a 6-4, 6-4 win Brisbane.
