Federer stays on course to retain title
The reigning champion and world number one simply had too much class and variety of shot for a man who was playing his first Wimbledon quarter-final.
The world number one had won all four of their previous meetings and he swiftly applied the pressure, breaking the Gonzalez serve in the fourth game of the match.
Gonzalez broke back in the seventh game with a flurry of the spectacular forehands which are his hallmark.
But Federer, with one wonderfully deft angled shot plus another unforced error from his opponent, broke again in the 12th game to take the set.
A wild forehand in the eighth game, the Chilean’s 18th unforced error, gave Federer another chance to press home his advantage and he took it gratefully to break the Gonzalez serve again to win the set and take control of the match.
Gonzalez began to threaten the Federer serve, although he wasted a break point with a wild forehand in the ninth game.
In the tie-break, however, Federer forged ahead to take the breaker 7-2.
Former winner Lleyton Hewitt crushed surprise quarter-finalist Feliciano Lopez to set up a showdown with Federer.
The 24-year-old Australian continued his impressive form with a 7-5 6-4 7-6 victory in a match which lasted a minute under two hours.
Lopez went into the match in the best form of his life, having knocked over top-10 seeds Mario Ancic and Marat Safin, but Hewitt beat the big-serving Spaniard at his own game, as he produced 15 aces.
The third-seeded Hewitt was the first to drop his serve but he broke his opponent twice to take the first set 7-5 in 39 minutes.
It was the first set dropped by Lopez since the first round and it was not long before he fell 2-0 behind.
The second set went with serve until the 10th game when Hewitt achieved the decisive break after Lopez had produced his second double fault. The Australian took the set 6-4 in 35 minutes to seize control.
There was an air of resignation about Lopez’s demeanour at the start of the third set but he somehow hung in without ever seriously threatening the increasingly impressive serve of Hewitt.
He maintained his nerve this time as the third set went all the way to 6-6 but Hewitt played a faultless tie-breaker, which included a 25-stroke rally, the longest of the match, before the Australian took it 7-2.
Thomas Johansson booked his place in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a straight-sets victory over David Nalbandian on Court One, in a match which was interrupted by rain.
The number 12 seed secured his 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-2 triumph in just over two-and-a-quarter hours, the first set having taken some 73 minutes against the man who ended Andy Murray’s hopes last weekend in round three.
Johansson, who missed the entire 2003 season with a knee injury, had too much control for the Argentinian, runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in the final three years ago on his debut at the All England Club.
Finally Andy Roddick overcame a brave fightback from Sebastien Grosjean to reach his third successive Wimbledon semi-final.
Roddick ground out a tense 3-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory after two hours and 45 minutes on Centre Court to remain on course for a repeat of last year’s final against Federer. He faces Johansson in the last four on Friday.
“I came in here losing a string of five setters in Grand Slams so to pull two out, especially against a player like Sebastien, really means a lot,” said Roddick, who blew a two-set lead to crash out of the French Open in the second round recently.
“He was coming up with the goods. I let it slip a little in the fourth set and he normally makes you pay for that but I was able to slime out a game on his serve and hold on to my own.”
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