Federer and Nadal set up their third straight showdown in the Wimbledon final, and sixth meeting in a major title match, by beating unseeded opponents Friday. Federer eliminated Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the first semifinal, and Nadal defeated Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
“There’s one more left,” Federer said. “I don’t think it matters really a lot if I’m the favorite or not. I’m on an incredible winning streak on grass. First somebody has to be able to break that before we start talking differently.”
Add up all of Federer’s greatness on grass courts, and the numbers are striking: 40 wins in a row at Wimbledon, 65 overall on the surface.
Now he seeks an additional victory Sunday against his only real rival in today’s game, Nadal. If Federer wins, it would make him the first man since the 1880s to win six consecutive Wimbledon titles and it would give him 13th Grand Slam championships, one shy of Pete Sampras’ career record.
Federer did plenty of things well during his match Friday, but he served impeccably.
He smacked 14 aces, took 70 of 90 points in his service games and faced only two break points. Both came with Safin leading 2-1 in the second set, and Federer erased them in similar fashion: a second serve delivered right at Safin’s body, setting up short returns that led to forehand winners.
Like Federer, Nadal faced only two break points Friday, and while the Spaniard did get broken once, he never was in true trouble. Thanks to that break, the 94th-ranked Schuettler went ahead 2-1 in the second set, then served for it at 5-4. But Nadal broke the 2003 Australian Open runner-up to pull even and was in command the rest of the way.
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