Federer steps up pace to crush Ferrero and reach semis

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) Roger Federer woke up after a sleepy spell to overcome Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 3-6 6-1 6-3 today and reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon where he is aiming for a fifth successive title.

Federer stormed to a 5-2 lead in the first set but the Spaniard clawed back to 5-5 before play was abandoned yesterday because of rain.

The world number one, whose last match was a week ago, squandered a set point in the 12th but made no such mistake in the tiebreak which he took 7-2 with an ace on the final point.

Some uncharacteristic forehand errors from the Swiss gave Ferrero a break in the eighth game of the next set and the former world number one took the set on his second set point when Federer's return went long.

It seemed to be the shock that the top seed needed and he launched a barrage of winners to take the third set in a 19 minutes.

Federer secured a break in the third game of the fourth set and in the end thumped a crosscourt forehand winner to extend his record of successive grand slam semi-final appearances to 13 and set up a meeting with either Andy Roddick or Richard Gasquet.

Reuters DH DB2124