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There was no stopping Rafael Nadal on Wednesday as he soaked up 22 thunderbolt aces to flatten Sam Querrey 7-5 6-2 6-2 to set up the Wimbledon semi-final the whole sporting world had been waiting to see – a showdown with great rival Roger Federer.
Rafael Nadal made a jaw-dropping start to his quarter-final as he won all 12 points during his first three service games. (AP)
There was no stopping Rafael Nadal on Wednesday as he soaked up 22 thunderbolt aces to flatten Sam Querrey 7-5 6-2 6-2 to set up the Wimbledon semi-final the whole sporting world had been waiting to see – a showdown with great rival Roger Federer.
The Spaniard made a jaw-dropping start to his quarter-final as he won all 12 points during his first three service games.
Querrey, a semi-finalist here in 2017, finally got a foothold on Nadal’s serve in the eighth game but making any form of sustained attack proved to be mission impossible.
A warning for a time violation threw third seed Nadal, who had already squandered four set points, off his service stride in the 10th game and allowed Querrey to break back for 5-5.
But that was as good as it got for the unseeded American as his serve might have been on fire but everything else was misfiring and he bowed out after the Spaniard whipped a forehand winner on match point to make sure it was game on with Federer in Friday’s semi-final.
Nadal’s victory meant it was the first time more than one Spanish man had reached the Wimbledon semis in the same year, with Roberto Bautista Agut also through to the last four after he beat Argentine Guido Pella in an earlier quarter-final.
Roger Federer overcomes shaky start to join Gram Slam 100 club
Roger Federer chalked up another monumental milestone to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals on Wednesday, recovering to beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 and become the first man to record a century of singles wins at any Grand Slam.
Number two seed Federer was so poor in the first set that the eighth-seeded Nishikori may have felt the 37-year-old Swiss’s advancing years had finally caught up with him.
Yet the remainder of the contest had just enough flourishes of pure brilliance from the eight times champion to make it a worthy occasion for him to become the sole male member of the Grand Slam 100 club.
Federer’s victory raised the prospect that Wimbledon may once again play host to one of the sport’s greatest rivalries, provided Rafa Nadal overcomes big-serving American Sam Querrey to tee up a clash against his old Swiss foe in the semi-finals.
The duo have not met at the All England Club since their titanic tussle in the 2008 final, when Nadal outlasted Federer over five thrilling sets that finished in the late evening gloom.
