Roddick survives, Federer thrives
It was an unexpected invasion, less likely to succeed than the famous Spanish Armada that set sail to conquer these islands in the summer of 1588. But the latest Hispanic La Armada Grande manned by caramel-tanned, bandanna sporting rebels attired in tennis shorts and wielding graphite racquets has surely created a sensation in these parts.
After all, Spanish - and Spanish-speaking - tennis players who fancy their chances towards the business end of the world’s premier grass court championships are as rare as banana plantations in Kent. For, this is a breed that normally books holidays to coincide with the Wimbledon championships.
But, as with all evanescent novelties, the shelf-life - of the unlikely invaders - has turned out to be rather limited, no matter that the dashing Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Gonzalez - the first men from Spain and Chile to figure in the men’s quarterfinals here since…well, since before Roger Federer was born - did play their parts almost as well as they might have been expected to on Wednesday.
Former champions Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer will face off in the men’s semi finals at Wimbledon after both recorded convincing quarter-final victories.
It what looms as the match of the tournament so far, Hewitt will be looking to end a seven-match winning drought against the world number one, who has now gone 34 matches unbeaten on grass.
The other semi-final will feature No.2 seed Andy Roddick, who was a 3-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3 winner over France’s Sebastien Grosjean, and 12th seeded Swede Thomas Johansson, who defeated 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian of 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-2.
Hewitt saw off Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 7-5 6-4 7-6 (7-2), progressing without incident and without testing his much-publicised temper.
The Australian dropped his serve early in the first set but bounced back before gaining another break, and the set, in the 12th game, when Lopez netted an easy return.
The Spaniard, playing in his first Grand Slam quarter final, tried hard in the second set, but was broken again. He saved two set points, but again netted a return to concede the set.
The third set went to a tie-break and Hewitt reeled off three straight points from 4-1 on his way to victory and a re-match with the man who knocked him out at the quarter final stage of the 2004 tournament.
“He played extremely well right from the start and was the one dictating play,” Hewitt said of Lopez. “I just had to wait for my opportunities but started seeing the ball like a football and was playing better and better.”
Federer’s progression was just as easy, and he quickly had the Chilean in trouble, racing to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Gonzalez levelled at 4-4 but Federer broke again in the 12th game before racing through the second set 6-2. Gonzalez forced a tie-breaker in the third, but couldn’t keep the pressure up in the tie-break.
Meanwhile, Roddick reached the semi-finals for a third-straight year, but only after shaking off a determined Grosjean, who took the first set after breaking the big-serving American in the sixth game.
Roddick changed his serving tactics in the second and it paid off as he grabbed the momentum with the second and third sets. A series of errors in the sixth game of the fourth set allowed Grosjean to level but the No.2 seed raced to a 3-0 lead in the fifth and never loosened his grip from that point.
That left Johansson as the only surprise semi finalist. He prevailed from an epic first set, which lasted 73 minutes and broke Nalbandian twice in the second set. The Argentine broke early in the third, but the Swede answered with two more breaks of is own and he now faces Roddick, whom he has a 0-2 record against.
Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt gave no quarter to dangerous opponents at Wimbledon Wednesday but Andy Roddick was made to fight hard for his semi-final place.