Federer's one game from glory

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Federer was made to fight hard in the first set before finding top gear to ease to a 7-5 6-3 6-4 victory and his ninth consecutive Grand Slam final.

It was the defending champion's 53rd consecutive victory on grass, 33 of those coming at the All England Club, and sets up a repeat of last year's final against French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

"I was thinking he was going to play very, very well and I was ready for that," Federer said.

"The first set was crucial, he should have got to a tie-break if not even won it, but I came out somehow and played really for 10 minutes and it was pretty much it after that.

"The first final is still the most special, I played incredible tennis that day.

"Now it's become sort of a routine but I'm so excited to be back into the finals."

Gasquet initially showed no ill-effects of last night's thrilling five-set victory over third seed Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals, forcing Federer to save three break points to keep his nose in front in bright sunshine on Centre Court.

But as soon as Federer raised his game when it mattered most to break in the 12th game of the set, the Frenchman looked a broken man, not helped by the noon start time today.

Watched by Bjorn Borg, the man whose record he is aiming to equal, Federer clearly took heart from that hard-fought success and broke Gasquet early in the second set for a 2-0 lead.