Sport 30-06-2005 The Week at Wimbledon who: Roger Federer what: On course to win third successive Wimbledon title after quarter-final victory where: All England Club, LONDON when: Wednesday snippet: On Wednesday, Roger Federer "tightened his grip on the most famous trophy in tennis when he powered inevitably into the Wimbledon semi-finals with an impressive 7-5 6-2 7-6 victory over Chile`s Fernando Gonzalez," says The Mail. "The Chilean truly went for it against Roger Federer, dispatching each and every ball like a long-suffering husband bidding farewell to his mother-in-law after an extended visit," quips The Telegraph`s Robert Philip. "In this mood, Gonzalez would probably have beaten any player in the world except for His Imperial Majesty, who remained on course to become only the third man in the modern era - a feat previously achieved by only Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras - to win three successive Wimbledon titles." Federer plays Lleyton Hewitt in the semis after the Australian dispatched Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-4, 7-6. Hewitt duly complained to the media about Wimbledon`s seeding system, remarking that it is "a bit strange" to engineer a meeting between the No.1 and No.2 players in the world in the semi-final. "I would definitely have liked it to be the final. But it will be like playing a final, going out there on Friday," Hewitt says, quoted in The Mirror. "If you knock the best player in the world off out there, then you`ve obviously got to be pretty confident going into the final. But it`s a strange situation. I don`t know how many times it would have happened that the top two ranked players would be playing in a semi-final in a Grand Slam." The smart money will be on Federer, though. "Hewitt has not beaten the Swiss star in seven attempts," notes The Mirror`s Darren Lewis. In the other semi-final, Andy Roddick (who defeated Sébastien Grosjean in the quarter-finals) will play 30 year-old Swede Thomas Johansson (who beat David Nalbandian). If Roddick makes it through to the final, he will not be looking forward to a meeting with Roger Federer, "who has won eight of their nine meetings," says The Guardian. In the ladies` competition, No.14 seed Venus Williams has looked unbeatable, despite her recent form. On Tuesday she beat Mary Pierce 6-0, 7-6 in the quarter-final before wiping out defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 6-1 on Centre Court late on Thursday. "Williams` last Grand Slam final appearance came at the All England Club two years ago, finishing runner-up again to her younger sister, Serena," recalls Jim van Wijk of PA Sport in an article reproduced more or less word-for-word by The Guardian online. "A stomach muscle injury then saw the 25-year-old out of action for around six months, and she struggled to recapture the form which had taken her to the top of the world rankings since, a quarter-final appearance at the French Open in 2004 her best performance before this summer." "The two-time champion raced 3-0 ahead as Sharapova mistimed her shots and Williams took a high-quality first set," says the BBC. "A stunned Sharapova gifted Williams a break at 1-0 and the American broke again twice to reach her fifth final." Meanwhile, No.1 seed and world No.1 Lindsay Davenport took on third seed Amélie Mauresmo. Rain stopped play on Thursday evening with the former champion on the verge of victory, leading the Frenchwoman 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (7-4) 5-3. [... more]

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