Federer, Murray on collision course for dream final

Andy Murray (left) with Roger Federer

LONDON: Roger Federer and Andy Murray are locked on collision course for a dream Wimbledon final, but a giant Croatian and a wily Spaniard stand in their quarter-final paths on Wednesday.
Federer will be playing his 25th Grand Slam quarter-final while 6ft 10in (2.08m) Ivo Karlovic has never before got this far in the majors.
But he still represents a huge barrier to Federer’s ambitions of winning a record 15th Grand Slam title having not faced a break point in four rounds so far.
Federer holds an 8-1 career record over Karlovic and insists he will relish facing the 22nd seed who has now fired down 137 aces in his four matches.
“I like these sort of challenges,” said five-time champion Federer. “But I like to beat this guy because he makes it hard on us to beat him. He’s become an excellent player. He’s not to be underestimated.”
Murray, bidding to become Britain’s first male champion since Fred Perry in 1936, needed five sets to get past Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round on Monday. It was the latest ever finish to a Wimbledon match courtesy of the Centre Court’s 80million-pound roof being rolled out for the first time.
Murray now faces Spain’s former world number one, and French Open winner, Juan Carlos Ferrero for a place in the last four.
If Murray gets to the semi-finals, then either 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt or two-time runner-up Andy Roddick will be waiting for him.
Hewitt, the only Australian in the draw, insists he has nothing to fear from the sixth seed after staging his fifth career comeback from two sets to love down to beat Czech 23rd seed Radek Stepanek 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
“It doesn’t get any easier from here. I have loads of respect for Lleyton and what he’s been able to accomplish,” said Roddick who made the quarter-finals with a straight sets win over Czech Tomas Berdych.
In the remaining quarter-final, Germany’s Tommy Haas, the oldest man in the draw at 31, faces Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic.
[Agencies]