Federer into 10th Wimbledon semi-final

Seven-time champion Roger Federer reached his 10th Wimbledon semi-final on Wednesday with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over French 12th seed Gilles Simon.

The second seed will face Andy Murray in what will be his 37th Grand Slam semi-final, for a place in Sunday’s title match. The 33-year-old Swiss, bidding to become the oldest Wimbledon champion in the Open Era, shrugged off two rain delays as well as being broken for the first time at the tournament to complete victory in just 94 minutes.

Federer fired 11 aces and 36 winners as he secured a sixth win in eight meetings with Simon, who was attempting to reach the last-four of a major for the first time. “The stop and go with the rain are always tough but I think I used them to my advantage. They helped me rather than hindered me,” said Federer who said he was looking forward to a potential semi-final against 2013 champion Murray should he get past unseeded Pospisil in his quarter-final.

Federer defeated the British third seed in the 2012 Wimbledon final before Murray gained revenge just weeks later in the Olympic Games final. “We both like to look back on that summer of 2012. If we knew I would win Wimbledon and him Olympics, I think we both would have taken it. It was a great summer for us,” said the world number two.  Federer broke for a 3-0 lead in the first set against Simon.