SPORTS
Saturday, July 15, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3B
FEDERER: Is 6-1 alltime against finals opponent Marin Cilic
Continued from 1B
breaking a record he already
held.
Just weeks from turning 36,
and a father of four, Federer
continued
his
resurgent
season and unchallenged run
through this fortnight at the
All England Club by conjuring
up just enough brilliance to
beat 2010 runner-up Tomas
Berdych 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in
the semifinals Friday.
“It’s great, but it doesn’t
give me the title quite yet.
That’s why I came here this
year,” Federer said. “I’m so
close now, so I just got to stay
focused.”
He has won every set he’s
played in six matches, and
while he did not exactly domi-
nate against the 11th-seeded
Berdych,
Federer
was
never in much trouble. On
Sunday, Federer will face
2014 U.S. Open champion
Marin Cilic, who reached
his first Wimbledon final by
eliminating 24th-seeded Sam
Querrey of the U.S. 6-7 (6),
6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5 with the help
of 25 aces and some terrific
returning.
“This is his home court,”
Cilic said about Federer,
“(the) place where he feels
the best and knows that he
can play the best game.”
Since
equaling
Pete
Sampras and William Renshaw
(who played in the 1880s) with
a seventh trophy at Wimbledon
in 2012, Federer has come this
close before to No. 8. But he
lost to Novak Djokovic in the
2014 and 2015 finals.
Here comes another
chance.
Federer would be the
oldest man to win Wimbledon
in the Open era, which dates
to 1968; as it is, he’s the oldest
finalist since Ken Rosewall
was 39 in 1974.
“I mean, I don’t see
anything that would indicate
really Roger is getting older
or anything like that,” said
Berdych, who wore sneakers
with a silhouette of Djokovic’s
face on the tongue because his
own usual shoes were uncom-
fortable. “He’s just proving
his greatness in our sport.”
Also noteworthy: This is
Federer’s second major final
of 2017. After losing in the
Croatia’s
Marin Cilic
celebrates
after beat-
ing Sam
Querrey of
the United
States at
the end of
their Men’s
Singles
semifinal
match on
day elev-
en at the
Wimbledon
Tennis
Champi-
onships in
London,
Friday, July
14, 2017.
AP Photo/Alastair
Grant
Wimbledon semifinals last
year, he took the rest of 2016
off to let his surgically repaired
left knee heal. He came back
fit and refreshed and won the
Australian Open in January
for his record-extending 18th
Grand Slam title and first
anywhere in 4½ years.
“Giving your body rest from
time to time is a good thing,
as we see now,” Federer said.
“And I’m happy it’s paying
off because for a second, of
course, there is doubts there
that maybe one day you’ll
never be able to come back
and play a match on Centre
Court at Wimbledon. But it
happened, and it’s happened
many, many times this week.”
And most of the 15,000
or so people in attendance
were pulling for him. That
was evident throughout
Friday, from the cries of
“Go, Roger!” to the roars
of approval and thunderous
applause that greeted some of
his best efforts on a day when
he was not necessarily at his
vintage, wondrous best.
The down-the-line fore-
hand passing winner that
landed right on the opposite
baseline in the second set,
leaving Berdych slumping
his shoulders. Or the no-look,
flicked backhand winner
several games later that not
many players would even try,
let alone manage to do.
Or the way he extricated
himself from a sticky situation
down 3-2 in the third, facing
break points at 15-40: 107
mph (173 kph) ace, 116 mph
(187 kph) ace, 120 mph (194
kph) service winner, 119 mph
(192 kph) ace. In the very
next game, he surged to a 4-3
lead by breaking Berdych.
That was pretty much that.
“I was able to come
up with the goods when it
mattered,” Federer said.
The No. 7-seeded Cilic
was not able to do that in the
opening tiebreaker against
Querrey, the first man from
the U.S. in any major semifi-
nals since 2009.
At 6-all, Cilic seemed
distracted by a delay of a
couple of minutes when a
spectator who appeared to feel
ill was helped from her seat
and out of the stands. When
action resumed, Cilic flubbed
two backhands to cede the set.
But from there, he steadied,
handling Querrey’s big serves
rather well. A trio of superb
returns earned a key break
in the fourth set, the last a
massive forehand off a 79 mph
(127 kph) second serve that
drew a shanked backhand and
a yell of “No!” from Querrey.
The next test for Cilic is the
toughest of all: beating Federer
at Centre Court. They met in
the Wimbledon quarterfinals
last year, when Cilic took the
opening two sets and even held
a match point before Federer
came all the way back to win,
improving to 6-1 head-to-head.
WILLIAMS: Muguruza beat Serena Williams for French Open title in 2016
Continued from 1B
“I’m definitely in the
position I want to be in,”
Williams said. “It’s a long
two weeks. Now, knocking
on the door for a title. This is
where I want to be.”
Williams has quite a
history at the grass-court
major, winning her first
Grand Slam title in London
in 2000. The last of her seven
majors came at the same
place in 2008.
Shortly after that, in 2011,
Williams announced she
had Sjogren’s disease, an
energy-sapping illness that
also can cause joint pain.
She missed some big tour-
naments, and made several
early exits at the majors.
But she has bounced
back, playing some of her
best tennis over the last 12
months. She reached the
Wimbledon semifinals last
year, and the Australian Open
final this year.
On
Saturday,
she’ll
be playing for the Venus
Rosewater Dish for the ninth
time in her 20th Wimbledon
appearance.
“There’s still a lot to be
done. I have one more match
that I’d like to be the winner
of,” Williams said. “I have to
go out there and take it and
play well.”
The person on the other
side of the net also has
experience playing in the last
weekend on Centre Court.
The 23-year-old Muguruza
played for the title in 2015,
losing to Venus’ little sister,
Serena Williams.
Serena isn’t at Wimbledon
this year because she is preg-
nant and taking the rest of the
season off. But Venus will
likely be checking in with
her for some advice ahead of
Saturday’s match.
“Serena did play her
Spain’s Gar-
bine Mugu-
ruza returns
to Slovakia’s
Magdalena
Rybarikova
during their
Women’s
Singles
semifinal
match on day
nine at the
Wimbledon
Tennis Cham-
pionships
in London
Thursday,
July 13, 2017.
AP Photo/Tim Ireland
in a final,” Venus said. “I
definitely will ask her. I’m
sure she’s going to give me
hopefully some things that
will make a difference for me
in the match.”
Muguruza, however, beat
Serena to win the French
Open title in 2016. And she’s
expecting the same kind
of atmosphere despite the
unfamiliar opponent.
“I don’t think it’s going
to be different. A final is a
final,” Muguruza said. “Only
one’s going to win. ... The
racket has to talk.”
Besides her experience
on the court, Muguruza will
also have some experience
behind her off it. She has
been working with 1994
Wimbledon
champion
Conchita Martinez recently.
“I think she’s helping me to
deal with the stress of the tour-
nament, because it’s a long tour-
nament,” Muguruza said. “So
she just knows how to prepare,
how to train, what to do.
“Not that I’m doing some-
thing different, honestly. But
to have her by my side gives
me also this little confidence
on having someone that has
won before.”
Williams and Muguruza
have played each other four
times before, and the Amer-
ican has won three of them.
They have never before
played on grass, though.
“It’s good that she’s played
her before, and that she’s
beaten her. So she knows
what’s to come,” Martinez
said of Saturday’s match.
“She just has to play tennis,
and not worry about who’s
favored or who isn’t favored.
She needs to think about the
next point and nothing else.”
When Martinez won at
Wimbledon for her only
major, she beat 37-year-old
Martina Navratilova in the
final. Williams is the oldest
Wimbledon finalist since then.
Age, however, seems to be
an advantage for Williams.
“I think it’s wonderful to
have the opportunity to play
well and to be strong and
have experience,” Williams
said. “So I think experience
can either work against you
or for you. I like to think it’s
working for me.”
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