Djokovic whips Goffin to set up Agut semi-final.
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 at Wimbledon 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.
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 will see Wimbledon once again play host to one of the sport’s greatest rivalries, after 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.
Djokovic too good for Goffin
Top seed Novak Djokovic recovered from an edgy start to deliver a devastating display that crushed the spirit of 21st-seeded Belgian David Goffin in straight sets on Wednesday and sent the defending champion surging into the Wimbledon semi-finals.
Goffin will wonder just what happened after he looked the better player in the early stages and broke for a 4-3 lead in the first set. Half an hour later he had lost 10 games in a row and the match was effectively over as Djokovic, relentless with his accuracy, went on to triumph 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.
It was a display of Djokovic at his clinical best as the Serb soaked up the early punches without panic then slowly but surely imposed himself in every aspect of the contest to such an extent that Goffin was left flailing.
Djokovic, who has lost only once at a Grand Slam in the last 12 months, is into his ninth Wimbledon semi-final – only Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer have been in more – where he will face Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut, who defeated Argentina's Guido Pella 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and will be confident of making Sunday’s showdown.
Bautista Agut wears down Pella to reach semi-finals
Roberto Bautista Agut reached his first Grand Slam semi-final by wearing down Argentine Guido Pella to steal a march on his more decorated fellow-Spaniard Rafa Nadal.
The understated 31-year-old Bautista Agut dropped his first set of the tournament but 26th seed Pella’s gruelling campaign caught up with him as the number 23 seed won 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
It was the first Wimbledon quarter-final not featuring a top-20 player since a Polish duel between Jerzy Janowicz and Lukasz Kubot in 2013 but for the Court One ticket holders it proved an enjoyable appetiser for twice champion Nadal’s clash with American Sam Querrey on the same stretch of turf later.
Bautista Agut is a rugged and reliable performer in Grand Slams and a regular visitor to the third and fourth rounds.
This year has seen a breakthrough though and he reached his first quarter-final at the Australian Open.
Now he has gone one better and will become only the sixth Spaniard to contest a Wimbledon men’s semi-final when he takes on top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Bautista Agut will not be daunted either, having twice beaten the Serb this year.
He squandered a 0-40 lead on Pella’s serve in the fifth game of the first set with a double break on offer and was then dragged into a fierce baseline fight before breaking for a 6-5 lead and then serving out the opener.
Pella had spent six hours longer on court to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final and looked weary as he dropped serve at the start of the second set — that proving enough for Bautista Agut to move to within a set of victory.
The left-handed Argentine was not finished though and hit back with some dazzling tennis to snatch the third set.
However, the business-like Bautista Agut was relentless and jumped ahead in the fourth set before claiming victory when Pella looped a forehand over the baseline.
