London // Sentimental favourite Roger Federer faces home star Andy Murray for the 24th time on Friday hoping his near perfect grand slam tournament grip on the Scot will steer him into a 10th Wimbledon final.
Such is the anticipation that Friday’s other semi-final between defending champion Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet is in danger of becoming a warm-up act.
Second seed Federer, the seven-time champion, boasts a narrow 12-11 lead in his decade-long rivalry with Murray.
But he is 4-1 to the good at the grand slam events, including a four-set win in the 2012 Wimbledon final, which delivered his 17th and most recent major title.
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Federer, at 33 and hoping to become the oldest champion of the Open Era at the All England Club, also came out on top in the 2008 US Open final, the 2010 Australian Open final and last year back in Melbourne in the quarter-finals.
Murray, five years the Swiss star’s junior, won their only other clash at the majors – a five-set semi-final thriller in Australia in 2013.
Federer, runner-up to Djokovic 12 months ago, will be playing in his 10th Wimbledon semi-final and 37th at all the majors.
Murray, who became Britain’s first men’s Wimbledon winner since Fred Perry in 1936 when he lifted the title in 2013, is in his sixth All England Club semi-final and 17th at the majors.
Three years on from 2012, when Federer won a seventh Wimbledon and Murray proved he could win big titles by defeating the Swiss in the Olympic final, both agree that summer was a crucial point.
“There was a lot on the line with Andy. I think he was going for his first Wimbledon in 2012. So obviously it was always going to be tough. He had lost some majors before that (three finals in total),” said Federer. “Then the Olympics was just a different vibe altogether. I was a bit weathered but Andy played as good a final as you can play.”
Murray’s gold medal was followed two months later by a first major title in New York.
Federer reached the semi-final with the minimum of fuss, dropping serve once to Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals, which ended a streak of 116 service holds.
Murray’s defence of his Wimbledon title ended in the quarter-finals last year but 12 months on he has cruised through the draw, recording his 150th grand slam tournament match win in the quarter-final with Vasek Pospisil.
To get to the semi-finals, Murray has not had to beat a player inside the top 20. Federer has won their last three meetings, including a 6-1, 6-0 rout at the World Tour Finals in their most recent clash at the end of 2014.
“It was obviously embarrassing,” said Murray. “But in individual sports, it’s all about who performs on that day.”
Defending champion Djokovic will take an 11-1 record over Gasquet into his semi-final, his seventh at Wimbledon and the 27th major semi-final of his career.
Gasquet, the 21st seed, knocked out fourth seeded French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in five sets to reach his second Wimbledon semi-final – eight years after his first.
“Obviously an experience of being in these final stages of Wimbledon many times is going to help me to approach it in a proper way,” said Djokovic, the Australian Open champion and also Wimbledon winner in 2011.
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