Federer to match Borg's Wimbledon record

Federer won his 53rd straight match on grass with relative ease to make it to the finals at the Wimbledon tennis championships for the fifth straight year. He needed only three sets and one hour and three quarters to defeat a match-worn 12th seed Richard Gasquet, 7-6(4) 6-3 6-4. The young but talented Frenchman managed to hold off the four-time champion in the first set until he lost his serve in the 12th game. That crucial break of serve put away all hopes of upsetting the king of grass so that consequently he could no longer keep up the pace with a bad ankle niggling him as Federer wrapped up the match just a little more than an hour later.

Federer now looks to match Bjorn Borg's record of five straight titles at the All England club as he meets last year's finalist Rafael Nadal in what is essentially a rematch of last year's final. Nadal got into his second straight Wimbledon final when an exhausted and injured Novak Djokovic retired from their semifinals match while behind 1-4 in the third set. Djokovic had grabbed the first set 6-3 but like Gasquet struggled after that with an injury (badly blistered little toe in the left foot) that caused him to lose the second set 6-1.

Federer has clearly spent less time on court than Nadal who endured two five-set matches during the tournament. While that will mean he will be fully rested for tomorrow's finals, I hope that the lack of matchplay and the lack of any real challengers in his half of the draw (a great match with either Andy Roddick or Tommy Haas could have provided Federer with ample opportunities to test his game) will not leave him ill-prepared to face a player of Nadal's caliber. But then again Federer is known to step up his game whenever he views the man across the net as a threat.