Roger Federer took another step towards a 19th Grand Slam by beating Tomas Berdych in the semifinal 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-4.
The straight-set scoreline concealed a victory that was earned with some difficulty with the Czech constantly testing the seven-time Wimbledon champion, who made his share of errors and needed to dig deep into his reserves to pull himself out of tricky situations.
This was a different Federer from the one that played with the unpremeditated aggression and fluency that was on sublime display in his quarterfinal against Milos Raonic on Wednesday.
Berdych tested him right through the match and Federer’s forehand, which was a little erratic during the second set, contributed towards a victory that, by his own superlative standards, was a tad laboured.
It was Federer who went up first in the opening set, but Berdych came out of nowhere to level 4-4, pushing the match into a tie-breaker. Here, as he did during clutch points right through the match, Federer stepped up the serve, his first three unreturned, to set up the stage for a 7-4 victory.
Berdych applied more pressure in the second set, in which he looked like the better player during certain parts. But to Federer’s credit, he pulled himself out of trouble every time.
At 3-3, for instance, Federer was down 0-30, which he reversed with two powerful serves and, after fending off a break-point, with a sharp crosscourt winner, proceeded to wrap up the game with another two unreturnable serves. This pattern continued right through the match, allowing Berdych to convert only one of the six break-points against Federer.
If it was the Federer serve that won him the tie-break in the first set, it was a string of forehand crosscourt winners, including a brilliant one hit inside out, that sealed the one in the second.
After staving off a couple of break-points when serving at 2-3 in the third set, Federer broke Berdych to 4-3. Sensing victory, the Swiss loosened up, getting himself into positions of advantage on a couple of rallies and then swatting the ball casually for winners as if he were in an exhibition match.
From here on, there was no stopping him as he widened the lead to 5-3 by holding his service game to love and then going up 40-0 in his final service game, to concede a point by trying to win with a flourish, and then wrapping it up when Berdych netted a forehand.
Federer, who hasn’t dropped a set yet this Wimbledon, will face Marin Cilic in the final on Sunday.
