Raonic Comes Back To Beat Federer At Wimbledon

Milos Raonic took advantage of some rare shaky serving from Roger Federer to take the fourth set and even their semi-final contest 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 7-5 on Friday at The Championships.

The winner will play second seed and 2013 champion Andy Murray or No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych, the 2010 finalist.

It seemed all but assured that the fourth set would head into a tie-break. Federer was serving at 5-6, 40/0. But Raonic hit a forehand winner and Federer donated two double faults to bring the game to deuce. On his third set point opportunity, Raonic struck a backhand pass to force a decider. He celebrated with a scream and a fist pump to his team.

The Canadian had consistently dug himself out of trouble in the fourth set, coming back to hold in four of his six service games and saving three break points. Until the last game, Federer hadn’t faced a break point since 1-2 in the first set. But Raonic came through to even the contest.

Federer had been riding the momentum he had earned in the third set, during which he landed more first serves and kept Raonic at the baseline and in rallies. The Canadian saw only seven net points in the third set after approaching 26 times during the first two sets.

The third seed had evened the match at one-set apiece after Raonic double faulted at 3/3 in the second-set tiebreak.

The sixth seed couldn’t have requested a better start to the Wimbledon semi-final. Raonic controlled the opener with his serve and forehand, successfully avoiding rallies with Federer. The Canadian won eight of his 12 net points. He also benefited from a Federer double fault on the set’s lone break point and had a one-set lead after 35 minutes.

Raonic is looking to make his first final at a Grand Slam championship and also is out for a bit of revenge. He lost to Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the 2014 Wimbledon semi-final.

Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 9-2. Raonic, however, won their most recent contest at the Brisbane International in January.

At 34, Federer is aiming to become the oldest Wimbledon finalist since 39-year-old Ken Rosewall finished runner-up in 1974. The last man older than Federer to reach any Grand Slam final was 35-year-old Andre Agassi, who fell to the Swiss at the 2005 US Open.