Federer reaches sixth straight Wimbledon final

Federer is aiming to win the record for six Wimbledon titles in a row Keystone

Swiss world tennis number one Roger Federer has secured his place in this year's Wimbledon final after a straight sets win against Russia's Marat Safin.

Federer beat Safin 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 in the 102-minute semifinal at the All England Club on Friday.

He faced a minor struggle in the third game of the second set when Safin earned two break points.

But at the beginning of the second set tiebreaker Federer took a 4-0 lead, and served up a 204 kmh ace to clinch it.

Safin, known for his volatile temper, grew frustrated in the third set and after losing a game, smashed his racket against his chair, drawing a code violation from the umpire.

Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champion, was playing in the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time. The former number one player is now ranked 75th in the world and only reached the second round of the Australian Open and Roland Garros earlier this year.

“Beautiful feeling”

Federer has not dropped a set at this year’s tournament and stretched his grass-court winning streak to 65 matches, and his Wimbledon winning streak to 40.

He holds the joint record with Björn Borg for five consecutive men’s singles titles at Wimbledon.

In Sunday’s final he faces the world number two, Spain’s Rafael Nadal who defeated Rainer Schuettler, of Germany, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 in Friday’s other semifinal.

It will be their third consecutive battle for the Wimbledon title.

“It’s great, a beautiful feeling, being able to get the opportunity to win the title again. It means so much to me,” Federer said.

Swiss president Pascal Couchepin will travel to Wimbledon to watch the match, the government announced on Friday.

Federer has been dogged by concerns about his health following a bout of glandular fever several months ago. In the Australian Open in January he did not get beyond the semifinals, ending his record string of 10 grand slam final appearances.

Last month Federer finished as runner-up at the French Open in Roland Garros after suffering a humiliating defeat under Nadal.

No-one has won Wimbledon six years in a row since Willie Renshaw in 1886.

In the women’s final on Saturday, Venus and Serena Williams will face each other in their first Grand Slam championship match in five years.

Between them, four-time champion Venus and two-time winner Serena have won six of the last eight Wimbledon titles.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

In 2001 Federer ended Pete Sampras’s 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon in the fourth round of the tournament.
By winning Wimbledon in 2003, Federer joined Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash and Björn Borg as the only players to win both the juniors’ and men’s Wimbledon championships.
Federer has won five consecutive men’s singles titles at Wimbledon (2003-2007), a feat only ever accomplished by Borg.
Pete Sampras holds the record for the total number of Wimbledon wins with seven.