Six—time champion Roger Federer was eliminated in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the second straight year, wasting a two-set lead before losing 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
Federer looked to be heading for another routine victory on Centre Court after dominating the second-set tiebreaker. But the Frenchman broke once in each set to level the match, and broke again to start the fifth.
Federer never recovered, and will have to wait another year for a chance to equal Pete Sampras’ record of seven Wimbledon titles. The third-ranked Swiss lost to Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals last year.
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Novak Djokovic overcame a scare from his protege, before advancing to the semifinals for the third time in his career with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over 18-year-old Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic.
Djokovic has been practicing with Tomic on-and-off since the two became friends last year in Australia, but this was the first meeting between the two in a competitive match.
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In the semifinals, Djokovic will face either six-time champion Roger Federer or 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.