The Big 4 is down but not out at Wimbledon.
Defending champion Andy Murray was ousted by Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the quarterfinals Wednesday, one day after two-time champion Rafael Nadal was excused by Australian sensation Nick Kyrgios.
For a while Wednesday, it appeared that the other half of the Big 4 might follow Nadal and Murray off the grounds of the All-England Club.
But top seed Novak Djokovic survived a five-set epic with Marin Cilic, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-2, and seven-time champion Roger Federer overcame a one-set deficit to down his Swiss countryman Stan Wawrinka, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4.
“Clearly it’s always a shock when a defending champion goes out and it puts even more pressure on the favorites really,” Federer told the BBC of Murray’s stunning upset at the hands of the man they call “Baby Fed.”
Djokovic will face Dimitrov in one semifinal, while Federer will face the Canadian missile Milos Raonic in the other. The huge-serving Raonic advanced to the semis with a 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(4) win over the 19-year-old Kyrgios.
Dimitrov and Raonic — both 23 — are into their first Major semifinals.
The Big 4 have won 35 of the last 37 Grand Slam events, and now has two representatives in the Final Four at Wimbledon, even as the younger wave is making a hard charge to oust them.
Federer, into his 35th career Grand Slam semifinal, knows he is in prime position to extend his all-time record to 18 Majors. He is 8-0 in Wimbledon semis, and owns seven titles.
The most recent of Federer’s 17 Majors came at Wimbledon in 2012.
The draw had positioned Federer and Nadal to meet for a 34th time in the semifinals, but Kyrgios’s upset of Nadal took out a major roadblock for the Swiss, who has lost 23 of 33 career matches to his arch-rival.
In the quarters, Federer faced Wawrinka, his Davis Cup teammate and the reigning Australian Open champ, one of just two men in the last 37 Majors to capture a title not named Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Murray.
“It’s tough,” said Federer, who banged out 46 winners against 14 unforced errors as Wawrinka withered in the second half of the match. “I must say, Stan played great, especially for the first two sets. After that he started to struggle a little bit with his fitness. Maybe he was struggling a little bit early on, but he was hitting the ball too well, too cleanly for me to do anything on it. So I had to wait over two and a half sets for me to get my first break against him. It’s difficult when you know someone so well.
“It’s just hard to get by because we know our patterns really, really well and I’m very pleased with the match.”
Some had counted Federer out after he lost in the second round last year to Sergei Stakovksy, but Wimbledon has always remained his best chance for another Major, especially if someone took Nadal out before they were to meet, as is the case here.
“I don’t want to go too far ahead of myself, I’m just really pleased that I’m back strong this year at Wimbledon,” Federer said. “Last year was such a disappointment really because it’s always one of the highlights of the season I put for myself, is to play well at Wimbledon and trying to win it. And last year I didn’t even come close. So I was very deflated leaving Wimbledon on that note.
“So it’s good to be back in the semis and having a chance to maybe go a step or two further, the prospect is anyway very exciting.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
And like ZAGS on Facebook
