Wimbledon - Imperious Federer into seventh final

Eurosport - Fri, 03 Jul 20:43:00 2009

Roger Federer reached his seventh successive Wimbledon final after comfortably beating Germany's Tommy Haas in straight sets 7-6 7-5 6-3.

Roger Federer - 2009 Wimbledon semis - 0

Federer's victory set up an opportunity to win his sixth title at the All England Club, with five-times champion Bjorn Borg among those watching from the stands on Centre Court.

Haas, who had never previously progressed past the fourth round of the tournament, performed admirably but was simply outplayed by his opponent's faultless game.

Federer (pictured) now faces sixth seed American Andy Roddick for the third time in what will be a record 20th Grand Slam final appearance for the Swiss.

The overcast conditions were conducive to dynamic tennis, and both players found impressive power and pace on their serve.

The first set stayed with serve until the tie break, although Haas was twice forced to recover from 0-30 to hold under pressure.

The 31-year-old German was at his most intense, reacting positively to his every mistake, and stayed with Federer despite the Swiss possessing a win percentage of 83 on his first serve.

Federer, playing a record 26th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final, upped his game to take the tie break 7-3 and seal the first set in 46 minutes, with Haas unable to match to his opponent's experience in similar situations.

The 24th seed tried everything to unsettle Federer's rhythm, but only managed a paltry one point on his opponent's serve in his first four service games of the set.

At 5-4 up in the second set, Federer sensed an opportunity at 30-30, and forced a break point with a superb backhand pass, but Haas responded admirably with two big first serves to hold.

With a second tie break looming, Federer put the German under pressure during a spell of unflinching intensity and Haas finally buckled, firing a forehand long on the third set point.

The final set was again an imbalanced affair, as Federer continued to hold serve with consummate ease, while Haas battled valiantly to stay in touch with his opponent.

Federer possessed a dismissive air on his serve throughout, and his consistency saw the onus placed firmly on Haas to stay on level terms.

One comical moment on Federer's serve saw Haas stranded at the net, and as the German frantically waved his arms to distract him, the Swiss missed the open court, but saw the amusing side of his opponent's gamesmanship.

As was often the case in the match, Federer managed to find a new level at the crucial point in each set, and the third was no different.

Haas received an unfortunate foot fault called against him at the start of his fourth service game, and it clearly rattled him as he fired a forehand into the net to present his opponent with two break points.

Despite saving four break points in all, Haas finally caved in, planting a backhand into the net, and Federer was given the opportunity to serve out the match.

The five-times champion sealed his place in the final with an emphatic smash down the line, and raised his arms aloft in jubilation.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport

Comment 55 - 74 of 94

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  1. Federer is the best!He will beat Roddick in the finals!

    From leeloo, on Fri 3 Jul 11:54PM

  2. when will you fire this simon reed already!!! when? it­ shames eurosport!!!! enough

    From lotanl2002, on Fri 3 Jul 11:44PM

  3. NO WORDS LEFT TO YOU SAY , BEST EVERY PLAYER IN DA­ WORLD , BEST EVER RECORDS !

    GET BACK YOUR NUMBER ONE­ SUNDAY ! YOU DESERVE TO BE THE WORLD NUMBER ONE FOR­ EVER

    EVEN WHEN YOU RETIRE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

    WORLD NUMBER­ ONE ROGER FEDERER .

    From ewschwyz, on Fri 3 Jul 11:40PM

  4. ROGER U THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From erika, on Fri 3 Jul 11:32PM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    71.what's the point??? he s stil going to lose­ (hands­ and pants down) to Federer. please no more of­ Roddicks­ and Hewitts et al...a losers generation that­ made­ Federer look like a legend...
    Rafa where are­­ you???tennis is sinking back into mediocrity....

    From onelazybum, on Fri 3 Jul 11:30PM

  6. we can take this away from the man that have seen it­ all,even the like's of agassi and sampra says­ he's the best ever,so what else did we want,atlistn­ in this despensation no body as bit the record,he­ simply the best,

    From folami a, on Fri 3 Jul 10:13PM

  7. katy.hume where do you get your facts from Murray has­ defeated Federer 8 times are you alright, please,­ please and please if you Federer haters don't know­ anything about Tennis why don't you just go to­ another sport, if you are a Murray fan go and read­ something else he has lost and if you are a fan of­ Nadal go and read something else, we are tired of you­ haters saying you will not watch the match but come­ Sunday after the match you will all come here to say­ the match was borring but you forgot you all claimed­ you were not going to watch the match. Why don't­ you guys just behave like adults and not kids, if you­ don't like him why read an article that has to do­ with him? Why comment about him? GO SOMEWHERE ELSE OR­ GO AND EAT OR LOOK FOR A JOB THAT WILL KEEP YOU OUT OF­ ANY FEDERER STORY PLEASE.

    From stine147, on Fri 3 Jul 9:27PM

  8. I am a huge admirer of RAFA NADAL,but i cannot shy away­ from declaring FEDERER to be the KING OF KINGS,for his­ outstanding achievements and his elegant style,There­ can be no doubt about it,Roger is bigger than the game­ itself.And how unlucky can this Roddick get..he lost 6­ majors due to Roger,and counting...

    From stavros h, on Fri 3 Jul 8:37PM

  9. Please let us respect those who deserve it. RF deserves­ all the respect from everyone. RN is also good but RF­ has a charisma that distinguishes him...i WISH YOU All­ the best RF

    From MICHAEL, on Fri 3 Jul 8:32PM

  10. Those who envy RF, said he won RG because RN wasn't­ in the final and now it's the same thing all over­ again: If RF will win the final, it will be said that­ it happened only because RN and AM weren't there.­ It is a great disrespect against those who have reached­ these two finals RF, RS and AR and the word CHEAP comes­ to my mind.

    Federer did impress me throughout this­ tournament with his adaptive play, not only the­ adaptation in order to win AGAINST different players,­ furthermore the ability to play WITH different players­ in their own style but with the Federer extra in order­ to prevail. It is a gameplan that could become his­ downfall anytime, but still hasn't.

    I only saw the­ first two sets of the AR - AM match. When leaving I was­ certain that AM would win, but recalled a certain­ arrogance and underestimation of AR in AM's play,­ even in the only set he won. Was it?

    It is great to­ see two former rivals duelling again!

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Fri 3 Jul 8:17PM

  11. What Schumacher got to do with it ? Drivers need a good­ car to win, tennis player have to do it all on their­ own. As every Federer fan I am happy to see him in yet­ another final but I am a bit sorry for likeable Haas­ who had a great tournament and was just unfortunate­ with the draw as he would have had a much bigger chance­ with Murray or Roddick. I also feel for Murray as­ it's all the hype from the nation that put an­ intolerable pressure on him. Great for Roddick to get­ in another final playing great tennis against all the­ odds, well done to him.

    From Morituri, on Fri 3 Jul 8:11PM

  12. How can one person be so good.............he was down­ when the others were up. Hes still made finals. Now­ they are gone. He is left. Thats the mark of the­ greatest ever. He is still here. The greTEST EVER.­ rEALLY.

    From kipketer1411, on Fri 3 Jul 8:07PM

  13. Poor Haas he could' have made 2 GS finals at­ Rolland and wimbledon but the draw showed no mercy for­ him and put him on the same half as the great roger.­ Fed is sublime and plays like in 05 and 06 remembers me­ the time he trashed hewitt in that us open final­ winning 2 sets to 0. Roddick plays better but i­ don't think he has the game to take out fed. Murray­ played verry soft, i mean u can't play that short­ softy balls and expect roddick to hit the net­ everytime. He was too confident on overlasting the­ american on long exchanges but Roddick pushed him and­ pushed him untill murray was done. Go Fed for a 15 GS.

    From Manutza, on Fri 3 Jul 7:50PM

  14. SIMON REED NOS NATHAN ABOOT TANNAS.

    From Donney, on Fri 3 Jul 7:40PM

  15. Hes like Shumacher............the greatest­ ever............but so natural.............Amazing.

    From kipketer1411, on Fri 3 Jul 7:37PM

  16. and now he s going to crash Roddick in the­ final....godamnit, it's hard find a tennis player­ these days, excepting Federer and Nadal, all the rest­ are jokes, sparring partners at most...

    From Ferrrrrrr, on Fri 3 Jul 7:31PM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    What a horrid, boring match. Where was the Haas who­ played such great tennis to get to the semi? He had no­ intention of winning, he had lost before he put a foot­ in the court.I for one will not watch the final as that­ will be a whitewash too 'cos Roddick
    just like Haas­ knows he has lost before going on court. If it had been­ Murray in the final it would have been a different­ state of affairs. Murray knows how to beat­ Federer
    after all he's already done it 8 times.­ Roddick has lost 18 times.

    From Katy, on Fri 3 Jul 7:30PM

  18. looks like it will be an easy win for Fed. come on do­ it for Murray !

    From Renan, on Fri 3 Jul 7:29PM

  19. Although I'm not a big Federer fan one has to­ accept that he really is the best ever (perhaps only­ matched by a Borg who retired too soon and didn't­ care to travel to Australia to play that open, I think­ more than one time). With 26 straight grand slam semi­ finals (and very few losses in them) together with the­ fact that he not only beats his generation of fellow­ players but he also beat the previous generation of­ champions (a superb Agassi in the uS open final as well­ as Sampras as a four time defending champion in a­ wimbledon 4th round) what limitations can one point­ out? CONGRATULATIONS!

    From joao_silva_slb, on Fri 3 Jul 7:24PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Sorry i guess other semi only went 4 sets. Actually a­ moot point though. Roddick will be beaten like a drum.­ I actually hope for a miracle and Fed loses.

    From x, on Fri 3 Jul 7:05PM
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