(June 8, 2015) Top three seeds Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray reach the semifinals of Wimbledon easily on Wednesday with straight set wins. Richard Gasquet spoiled a potential “top four” party in the last four, when he upset No. 4 Stan Wawrinka in five sets 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 11-9.
For the Frenchman, this will be his third major semifinal. “I’m the worst,” Gasquet said with a grin, “when you see Federer, Djokovic and Murray and me. There is something, I want to enjoy it.”
Gasquet will face off against Djokovic, who reached his 27 Grand Slam semifinal, defeating U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. It was the world No. 1’s 650th win on tour and 50th at Wimbledon.
“I came out with the right intensity, moved well all over the court, tried to get as many returns back in play,” said Djokovic. “I didn’t allow Marin to come back to the match. It was a close game when I was serving for the set. I think that helped my confidence to feel better afterwards.”
“It was great to watch them go backhand-to-backhand today,” said Djokovic about the Wawrinka – Gasquet match. “Some great points, great exchanges.”
Djokovic discussing his match-up against Gasquet said, “the experience of being in these final stages of Wimbledon many times is going to help me.” The Serb is 11-1 against Gasquet.
Andy Murray reached his 150th match won at a Grand Slam on Wednesday when he stopped Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. For the Canadian Posposil, it was his first appearance in a major quarterfinal.
Murray said of the win: “I needed to (step up) because at times, (he) was serving really well, (which) made it very difficult for me. Then I just managed to, at a few key moments, come up with some good shots. Third set was tricky, as well, because I had a bunch of break points. When you don’t take them, obviously you start to think about that a little bit. Overall, it was a good match.”
Murray will face Roger Federer for place in the final. Federer bested Gilles Simon, the 12th seed 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to reach his 10th Wimbledon semifinal and 37th major semifinal overall, to keep his hopes of winning a record eighth title at the All-England Club alive.
Federer won his last major at Wimbledon in 2012 when he defeated Murray, but then about a month later, Murray defeated Federer for the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
“We both like to look back at that summer,” said Federer. “Me, not so much at the Olympics; him, probably not so much at Wimbledon.”
Federer is 12-11 against Murray and is 9-0 in Wimbledon semifinals.
“I’m very happy to be in the semis again,” said Federer. “The road is long getting here. But still I feel like I’m fresh and I’ve got energy left in the tank for hopefully a great match with Andy and then we’ll see. But I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s been good so far. I felt like I played a very solid last year or so, especially on the grass I’ve done very well. I’m happy to keep it up here now. This is obviously now crunch time when you want to show if your game’s really up to par.”