Federer to Meet Murray in Wimbledon Semis

After a couple of early rain delays, seven-time champion Roger Federer and 2013 champion Andy Murray made their way into the Wimbledon semifinals on Wednesday.

Federer dispatched of 12th-seeded Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to advance. After taking the first set routinely, the second-seeded Swiss had his 116-game hold streak snapped at 5-4 in the second set. But he immediately responded, breaking right back and consolidating it with a hold to take the second set.

He opened up the third set by breaking in the first game, and another break in the seventh game sealed Simon’s fate as Federer wrapped this one up in one hour and 34 minutes.

“[Those conditions are] never easy for either player; it was quite windy too,” Federer said of the multiple rain delays. “The stop and gos are tough, but I used them to my advantage. I either stayed ahead or made a difference. The breaks helped me rather than hindered me. I had a great service game after the second rain delay and reset and took the lead in the third set. The game I got broken he was too good, so I have no problem accepting that.”

Despite getting broke once, Federer’s serve was still the difference for him. He got 73 percent of his first serves in play, winning points on 80 percent of those, and won 60 percent of his second serve points. Simon had just one more unforced error than Federer but failed to hit many winners, just 15 to Federer’s 36.

Now into his 10th career Wimbledon semifinal, Federer will play third-seed Andy Murray for a spot in the title match.

Murray broke serve once in each of the three sets to move past Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-5, 6-4 in a match that was also interrupted by brief rain delays.

“It was difficult, we were stopped a couple of times,” said Murray. “I felt I played some good stuff. He served extremely well for periods. I tried to change my return position at the end of the second to see the returns better.”

Federer leads the head-to-head series with Murray 12-11.

“I know Roger very well, we walked to the practice courts together this morning,” Murray added. “Friday is a different story and hopefully we can have a great match.”