Roger Federer beat Marat Safin in straight sets on Saturday to move one win away from his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title and 13th grand-slam championship.
Federer, who hasn’t dropped a set all tournament, never lost serve as he outplayed the Russian 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 with a nearly flawless performance for his 65th straight win on grass and 40th in a row at the All England Club.
”It’s great, a beautiful feeling, being able to get the opportunity to win the title again,” Federer said after the clinical one-hour, 42-minute victory. ”It means so much to me.”
His opponent in Sunday’s final will be the winner of the semifinal between Rafael Nadal and 94th-ranked Rainer Schuettler. Nadal, the four-time French Open champion, has lost to Federer in the past two Wimbledon finals.
Federer, who beat Safin for the ninth time in 11 matches, advanced to his 17th grand-slam final.
Watching in the Royal Box was Swedish great Björn Borg, with whom Federer shares the modern-era record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles. The only man to win six in a row was Willie Renshaw in the 1880s, and he only had to win one match to defend his titles.
There had been pre-tournament suggestions that Federer was more vulnerable this year after failing to win a major title this season and losing in a lopsided final to Nadal at the French Open.
”Don’t write me off too quickly, because this is my part of the season — Wimbledon, Olympic Games, US Open,” Federer said.
Sisters Venus and Serena Williams will face each other in the women’s final on Saturday, 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 past eight Wimbledon titles. Serena beat her older sister in the 2002 and 2003 championship matches and holds an overall 5-1 edge in grand-slam finals. — Sapa-AP