Wimbledon: Djokovic, Federer in Final

Wimbledon 2015—Gentlemen's Singles Semi-finals

Switzerland's Roger Federer waves to the crowd as he leaves the court after beating Britain's Andy Murray during their men's semi-final match on day eleven of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 10, 2015. Federer won the match 7-5, 7-5, 6-4. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON—In Friday’s Semi-finals Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Richard Gasquet of France and Roger Federer of Switzerland overcame Andy Murray of Great Britain to set up a superb Gentlemen’s confrontation to be played on Sunday July 12.

Both matches were completed in 3-Sets.

Djokovic defeated Gasquet 7/6 (7:2), 6/4, 6/4 in 2hrs 21mins. After the match Djokovic conceded that winning the first set was the breakthrough giving him the mental advantage. Djokovic had great consistency with his first serves, putting 75 percent of them in play and winning an average of 85 percent of them. His penetrating ground strokes were His second serve success rate however was low at 45 percent, but this did not matter too much as he did not have to play many of them.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic returns against France's Richard Gasquet during their men's semi-final match on day eleven of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 10, 2015. Djokovic won the match 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

The star match between Federer and Murray finished 7/5, 7/5, 6/4 to Federer. Murray asked Federer to serve in the first game hoping he could get a good start and an early break, and this tactic nearly paid off. But Federer survived the early scare and from there on served superbly well throughout the match putting a high percentage of first serves in play (74)and winning 71 percent of them – not as high as Djokovic in his match but still very high.

Throughout his career, given the choice, Federer has consistently chosen to serve first. And in this match he started the serving in each set. Although the game scores in each set progressed to serve, Federer was able to put tremendous pressure on Murray’s service games towards the end of each set. A typical case was the 10th game of the 2nd set. Federer was 5/4 up and he forced 8 Deuce points before Murray finally won the game. Federer then had a fast service game win and Murray was back serving again with Federer progressing from 30:30 to win the game and the set.

Roger Federer of Switzerland plays a forehand in the Gentlemens Singles Semi Final match against Andy Murray of Great Britain during day eleven of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 10, 2015 in London, England. Julian Finney/Getty Images

After the match Andy Murray praised Federers play particularly his “fantastic serving”. Federer, in his post match interview also considered his serving to be one of his best performances of his career and the match to be one of the best he has played.

Prospects for the Final
Djokovic is cool calm and collect and the occasion is unlikely to affect his play much. His 1st serve percentages are normally very high as is the speed and positioning of his serves. He is known for his strong base line play and his ability to hit hard penetrating ground strokes, particularly, accurate down-the-line shots.

The match will largely depend on Federers serve. If it is working like it was against Murry, and if his unforced error rate in general play is low, he will stand a good chance of securing his 8th Wimbledon Title and his 18th Grand Slam win. This should be another great Final at Wimbledon.

Finals
The Ladies Singles between Serena Williams of USA and Garbine Muguruza of Spain will be played on Saturday July11 while the the Gentlemen’s singles between Djokovic and Federer will be played on Sunday July12.