Jul 2, 2008 - 1:54 PM
0 shoutsWIMBLEDON, England (Ticker) -- Mother Nature only delayed Roger Federer's march to the semifinals at Wimbledon.
In his latest display of dazzling tennis, Federer continued his dominance at the All England Club on Wednesday with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 destruction of Mario Ancic.
The world's top-ranked player, Federer had little trouble shaking off a pair of rain delays as he extended his grasscourt winning streak to a staggering 64 matches and moved a step closer to winning his sixth straight Wimbledon title.
It marks the 17th straight time Federer has reached the semis at a Grand Slam.
Federer hardly had to break a sweat in winning his 39th straight match at Wimbledon, needing less than 90 minutes to dispose of his Croat opponent. The Swiss superstar kept the streak going at the expense of Ancic, who was the last to beat him on the lawn at Wimbledon in the 2002 first round.
Federer's winning streak is two shy of the record held by Bjorn Bjorg, whose string of five straight Wimbledon crowns was snapped in 1981.
The only other player to win six straight Wimbledon titles was William Renshaw from 1881-86. However, after claiming his first championship, Renshaw was required to win only one match in the challenge round to retain the title in the following five years.
Federer was in control from the outset Wednesday, firing six aces and committing just two unforced errors in a first set that lasted a mere 20 minutes. Things where not much tougher the rest of the way for Federer, who still has yet to drop a set in the tournament.
Putting an exclamation on his latest victory, Federer ended the match with an ace down the middle which was clocked at 112 miles per hour.
Awaiting Federer in the semis is unseeded Russian Marat Safin, a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 winner over No. 31 Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
The 28-year-old Safin, a former world No. 1 who is on the comeback trail, secured his first semifinal appearance in a major since 2005, when he won the Australian Open for his second career Grand Slam title. He knocked off Federer in the semis en route to the title.
The most intriguing quarterfinal match Wednesday has second-seeded Rafael Nadal taking on No. 12 Andy Murray, a Scotland native who is the overwhelming hometown favorite of the event.
Nadal won the first set against Murray in impressive fashion, taking a 6-3 lead.
Nadal, who has lost to Federer in the final in each of the last two years, has started to show that he has a grasscourt game to go along with his dominance on clay. The reigning four-time French Open champion has been outstanding over his first four Wimbledon matches this year, winning 12 of 13 sets.
Nadal, 22, is bidding to become the first player since Borg in 1980 to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.
Murray, who rallied from two sets down to win a thriller against eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet on Monday, is bidding for his first semifinal appearance in a Grand Slam.
The final quarterfinal matchup sees a pair of unseeded players in Arnaud Clement of France taking on Rainer Schuettler of Germany.
