LONDON — Roger Federer extended his grass-court domination on Friday, routing Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to move to within one win of a record eighth Wimbledon title.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion will play the in the final Sunday against Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic, who beat Sam Querrey 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
Federer beat Berdych for the 19th time in 25 matches as he reached the title match without losing a set. The victory was Federer’s first of the fortnight to last more than two hours. He ended with 13 aces and 53 winners, breaking twice from nine chances.
“I feel very privileged to get into another final,” Federer said. “I know how much it means to some players to go out on Centre Court at any time in their career, and I’ve done it so many times and now get to do it in a final again.
“I can’t quite believe it. I’m glad I have a day off tomorrow to get ready.
“There were doubts that I’d come back and play on Centre Court, but I’ve done it many times and would like to thank Wimbledon for putting me on Centre Court every match this year.
“Last year against (Cilic) was brutal. I got really lucky to win.
“Marin’s a lovely guy, I’m happy for him he’s in his first Wimbledon final. He crushed me at the U.S. Open final a couple of years ago. Hopefully he won’t play like that again.”
The 35-year-old stands on the brink of more history after reaching his 11th Wimbledon final from 19 participations. Federer has a 6-1 record against Cilic, whom he has not faced since Wimbledon a year ago.
Berdych was beaten for the eighth time in succession by Federer as he won his 90th match at Wimbledon, most of the Open era.
Federer could become the first man in history to win eight Wimbledon titles, becoming the second to ever win the same Grand Slam that many times; Rafael Nadal was first to achieve the feat by winning the eighth of his 10 Roland Garros titles in 2013.
Federer remains a magician on grass, winning 16 titles on the surface: seven at Wimbledon, and nine at Halle.
Cilic constructed his victory over Querrey in just under three hours, becoming the first Croatian since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 to play a Wimbledon final.
“My mental toughness was on an extremely high level, considering that both of us played amazing tennis in the first set,” Cilic said.
“The level was absolutely unbelievable from both ends,” he said.
“I felt that, mentally, in the critical situations, I was really good, even having a break down in that fourth set. I managed to turn it around. I would say I played throughout the match really a high level,” Cilic added.
“It’s great to be in the final of a Grand Slam again. My level of tennis in the last several weeks is really high, and that has given me a lot of consistency with my mindset.”
Cilic was competing in his fourth semifinal at a major and will be aiming for his 18th career trophy.
He owns one honor on grass, from Queen’s club, London, five years ago. Cilic will crack the ranking top-five for the first time thanks to his Wimbledon performance.
Querry and Cilic had played four previous times, three of those matches on grass and two at Wimbledon.
Cilic dropped the opening set against Querrey, but soon found himself holding a two-sets-to-one lead.
The Croatian went down a break in the fourth set but climbed back to 4-4 with a break-back. Cilic closed out victory on his first match point.
