Tennis: Roger Federer took another step closer to another Wimbledon final when he dispatched Juan Carlos Ferrero to take his place in the semi-finals.
And although Federer dropped his first set of the championships it was still a commanding 7-6 3-6 6-1 6-3 victory which keeps him on course to equal Bjorn Borg's five successive Wimbledon singles titles.
The match, which had been halted by last night's rain, had resumed at 5-5 and deuce on Federer's serve.
The number one seed did have one set point on Ferrero's first service game but could not convert.
But when the set went to the breaker Federer exerted his authority to run out a 7-2 winner, clinching it with a heavy ace.
Ferrero, a former French Open winner, was trading heavy groundstrokes with the four-times champion in the trickiest of windy conditions on Centre Court.
He received the reward for his stubbornness and his big-hitting when he broke the Federer serve in the eighth game of the second set although he was aided by a wild smash and several wayward forehands from the champion.
In the next game Ferrero went one better when he held serve to take the set, the first one Federer had dropped at this Wimbledon and only the sixth he had surrendered during a winning streak in SW19 which now stretches to 32 matches.
The shock of losing his first set of the tournament prompted Federer to take his game up a notch.
The serving became heavier. Where he had been content to rally from the baseline he was now coming in, shortening the points, taking the time and space away from his opponent.
He promptly broke Ferrero in the fourth and sixth games with a series of piercing backhands.
And suddenly it was one-way traffic, Federer breaking his opponent in the third game of the fourth set to take complete control and underline his determination to lift the famous gold trophy once more on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal is also into the semi-finals after a straight sets victory over Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych.
Nadal came through 7-6 6-4 6-2 to move into the last four where he will face the winner of the quarter-final tie between Novak Djokovic and Marcos Baghdatis.
The end was in sight for Berdych when he missed a routine volley at the net on break point in the opening game of the third set.
Nadal consolidated the break and raced into a 5-1 lead after the flailing Czech dropped his serve for a fourth time.
Berdych then saved one match point with an 11th ace and Nadal squandered a second on his serve but it merely delayed the inevitable as the Spaniard served out for a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-2 victory in a shade more than two hours.
Richard Gasquet tamed Andy Roddick's power game with some brilliant tennis to upset the American number three seed 4-6 4-6 7-6 7-6 8-6.
Roddick looked to be cruising to a three-set victory in the quarter-final on Court One and even went a break up in the third set.
But the 21-year-old Gasquet, seeded 12th, raised his game to unexpected heights and played two commanding tiebreaks to get back in the match.
Gasquet, who had never before even reached the last eight at a grand slam tournament, won the match when another crosscourt winner from the baseline set up two match points on Roddick's serve and the American netted his first return.
Djokovic took everything Marcos Baghdatis threw at him and still came back for more to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final.
The 20-year-old Serb delved deep into his reserves of willpower after the spirited Baghdatis had clawed his way back from two sets down, winning 7-6 7-6 6-7 4-6 7-5 after five hours of absorbing Court One combat.
Time and again the two players stretched out their rackets to retrieve lost causes as they pummelled each other to a virtual standstill in the deciding set.
In the end it was the 22-year-old Baghdatis, a hero in Cyprus after reaching the semis here last year and the 2006 Australian Open final, who cracked at 5-5 in the fifth.
A weary Baghdatis forehand into the net with the court gaping gave Djokovic the opening he needed and he duly broke before sealing victory in a match that will go down as probably the best in the tournament.