In Sunday’s final, Raonic will face 2013 champion Andy Murray, who swept Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in less than two hours to reach the championship match for the third time at Wimbledon and 11th time at a Grand Slam.
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Raonic’s adventure at SW19 looked over when a fourth-set onslaught from Federer – now leading two sets to one – created numerous break opportunities, but the Swiss maestro was unable to capitalise as it drifted towards a tie-break.
LONDON (AP) – Roger Federer’s bid for a record eighth Wimbledon title was cut short in the semifinals Friday by Milos Raonic, a big-serving Canadian who came from two-sets-to-one down to win in five and reach his first Grand Slam final.
The second seed was totally dominant in the early-evening sunshine on Centre Court, ruthlessly dispatching the burly Czech who never threatened to stop the Murray bandwagon.
Marin Cilic will feel he should have beaten Federer in the quarterfinals having held three match points, with the latter now likely thinking he should have prevailed against sixth seed Raonic.
A fired up Federer was not impressed as he waited for Raonic to return to the court at the end of the second and took out his frustration by taking a 4-3 lead with a break following a mishit from his rattled opponent.
He went up a break at 3-1 in the fifth by winning the game in which Federer tripped – and contributed yet another double-fault.
Down 3-1, Federer never recovered.
The 25-year-old Raonic became the first Canadian man in history to advance to the final of a Grand Slam tournament.
No. 6 seed Milos Raonic displayed his toughness by overpowering Sam Querrey, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the second round.
It may not have been unwise to say of Roger Federer what Ben Jonson said of the best known and most celebrated writer in the English language – William Shakespeare.
“I’ll have to see some of his matches to get an idea of maybe some of the things he does differently on the grass courts, what his strengths are, maybe some of the things he struggles with a bit”, said 29-year-old Murray, who has already been runner-up this year at the Australian and French opens. On the second break point, Raonic stroked a forehand cross-court passing shot victor after both men made hard volleys to stay in the point. “But I helped him so much to get back into that game”. I hope they have a lot more to give me.
But the Canadian is showing he can compete with one of the game’s best ever.
I showed a lot of emotion, always positive. “I think it was huge for me to play the seven matches I did in Halle and Stuttgart”. And the end result is disappointment and emotional pain – things that tens of millions of Roger Federer’s fans had to endure in the men’s singles semifinals of the Wimbledon tennis championship on Friday.
“With the body that’s been, you know, playing up this year, I just hope I’m going to be fine”.
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He’s the youngest Wimbledon finalist since Murray reached the title match in 2012 at the same age.
