Federer sparkles in 100th Wimbledon outing

Roger Federer gained revenge on Milos Raonic by posting a straight-sets win over the Canadian in his 100th match at the All England Club.

Federer’s 6-4 6-2 7-6(4) shut-out of Raonic took his Wimbledon record to an incredible 89-11 and made for a happier day than this time 12 months ago, when the Swiss fell in five sets in Raonic in the semifinals – his last match of 2016.

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This year, their roles were somewhat reversed; Federer was the in-form player coming up against Raonic, whose schedule and momentum had been affected by injuries.

“I’m much better prepared for Wimbledon this year than last year,” Federer said.

“Last year I had a hard, hard time practicing through the clay court season. The grass court season was difficult because of the back issues I had, and the knee issues. Then the matches, I could never really play quite so freely last year just because I’m more focused on (my health).

“This year I’m just a normal tennis player again where I can focus on tactics. I think that’s the difference. I’m playing very well. I’m rested. I’m fresh. I’m confident, too. Then great things do happen.

“That was the idea, that the second week of Wimbledon is that I would feel my best. I feel like it’s coming along nicely, to be quite honest.”

With the victory, Federer moves through to a semifinal against Tomas Berdych, who played for just a set before three-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic succumbed to an elbow injury.

Federer was at his attacking peak on Centre Court, blistering through the first two sets in just 59 minutes.

Through those sets he made Raonic look ordinary, especially when the sixth seed came to net; Raonic finished the match winning just over half of his 50 trips to net, including a desultory 4/11 in the second set.

“He kept a very high gear the whole entire time without giving many real glimpses. I think that was the most sort of defeating thing,” Raonic lamented.

Raonic made the third set more competitive, forcing Federer to save a quartet of break points in the eighth game and moving ahead 3-0 in the subsequent tiebreak.

Yet from here, Federer produced a flurry of winners to reassert himself, and celebrated passionately when Raonic squirted a backhand wide.

Berdych, for one, was looking forward to the challenge of facing Federer in the Swiss’s 101st match at SW19.

“It’s really exceptional tennis player that we have, that our sport actually have right now. There was nobody better in the past,” Berdych said.

“I think he’s the greatest of them all. It’s a great challenge to have actually the opportunity to play him.”