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Roger Federer
Take that: super Roger Federer sends back another glorious forehand as he crushes Tommy Haas in straight sets

Roger Federer's in seventh heaven as he books final date

Chris Jones
3 Jul 2009


Roger Federer is just one win away from a record 15th grand slam title after surging past Tommy Haas 7-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Centre Court today to reach yet another Wimbledon final.

Federer is the first player since the challenge round was abolished in 1922 to make seven successive Wimbledon finals as he maintained his run of never having lost in the last four here.

The Swiss star will face either Andy Murray or Andy Roddick on Sunday and if he wins he will eclipse Pete Sampras, who he shares the record of slam titles with.

The American could make a flying visit to London this weekend to be at the final and Federer said: "Pete is a good friend and we do send each other messages.

"It is unbelievable to be in another final and I have had lots of pressure over the years and this is a great opportunity to get into the history books, but that's not the only reason I play the sport. Going for something like 15 slams is quite extraordinary."

This will be Federer's 20th grand slam final and he has contested 16 of the last 17 climaxes to the major tournaments - a phenomenal effort by the 27-year-old who cannot take over from Rafael Nadal as No1 even if he wins on Sunday.

Federer's immaculate service allowed him to take his lead in meetings with the German to 10-2 and this victory was his 50th at Wimbledon.

This success vindicated his decision not to play a grasscourt warm-up tournament after winning his first French Open title on clay in Paris.

Federer goes into this final having won his last 18 matches, his longest run of victories for two years and No24 seed Haas didn't have the consistency to bring that to an end.

The first set was an intense affair with Haas producing excellent groundstrokes to show why he was considered such an outstanding talent until a series of shoulder problems blighted his career.

However, Federer's serve was so effective it gave Haas very little to build on and it must have been very deflating to see the master picking his spots and hitting the lines with such accuracy.

Haas did well to force the first set of the match into a tie-break but the Swiss prevailed to take the opener in 47 minutes.

Both men continued to rally strongly, but all too often it was Haas whose game broke down first even though Federer was proving to be human too with a couple of dreadful shots.

Haas saved a set point in the 10th game of the second set but couldn't repeat the feat two games later and Federer was in total control. With Haas needing a miracle to pull himself back from the brink, the 31-year-old resorted to tactics not normally associated with Centre Court tennis at Wimbledon.

After getting a drop shot back over the net, Haas waved his arms at the net to distract Federer who put a high lob out of play.

Federer had a smile on his face, but his reaction may have been very different if the match had been much tighter. Haas gave up his serve tamely in the eighth game giving Federer the chance to serve for a place in the final and a smash, with both feet off the ground, sealed the win.

The crowd rose to acclaim the greatest grasscourt player the game has ever seen and he is peaking at just the right time at his favourite tournament.Today's match, which lasted two hours and two minutes, proved that Federer has every right to feel confident as he approaches Sunday's final.

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