Roger Federer maintained his bid for a record eighth Wimbledon title as he moved into the last four with a 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win against Milos Raonic.
Federer, 35, made short work of beating last year’s runner-up with a trademark display on Centre Court as he won in his 100th singles match at Wimbledon.
He will now play Tomas Berdych in Friday’s semi-final after Novak Djokovic retired with an injury.
With Andy Murray also out, Federer is a huge favourite to take the title.
American Sam Querrey will play Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the other semi-final.
Veteran Federer only looked in danger of being broken once, saving four break points in the eighth game of the third set as he reached his 42nd Grand Slam semi-final – extending his own record – in a dominant display.
He hit 11 aces and 46 winners, losing just 19 points on his serve as sixth seed Raonic struggled to make any impact at all until the third set.
Federer, the second man to play 100 matches at Wimbledon in the Open era after Jimmy Connors, took the first two sets in under one hour as he picked up his 89th win at the tournament to reach a record 12th semi-final at SW19.
He has reached 10 finals to date, winning the most recent of his seven Wimbledon titles against Murray in 2012.
There is no chance of a repeat final this year, though, after Murray, who was hampered by his hip injury, lost in five sets to Querrey.
‘It’s nice to see different guys in the finals’
With Rafael Nadal losing to Gilles Muller in the fourth round on Monday, Federer is the last of the ‘big four’ players standing at Wimbledon.
He has 18 Grand Slam titles, with Berdych, Querrey and Cilic boasting just one between them – Cilic’s victory in the 2014 US Open.
Federer told BBC Sport: “I’m very happy that my body kept me going all these years. I hope that Novak’s OK with his injury.
“Rafa fought to the very end the other day and Andy also hasn’t been looking very good. I hope he and Novak will recover in time for the American summer but there are other good stories in the tournament.
“I predicted Marin Cilic could go very far this week and maybe it’s nice to see different guys in the finals.”
‘A masterclass from Federer’ – analysis
Boris Becker, three-time Wimbledon champion
A masterclass. I can’t believe he is playing at that level at the age of 35. Everybody thought that last year was the last chance for him, then he had a knee injury and took six months off.
Fast forward and he is the dominant player, not only at Wimbledon but throughout the year. It is remarkable, I don’t know how he does it.
He is one of a kind. He needs very little effort to win his service games, he uses all six spots where you can hit the serve, he gives very few chances away.
He is the clear favourite now.
[BBC]
