Cilic to play scary Federer in final

The 2017 Wimbledon Men's Final will be a contest between Roger Federer and Marin Cilic as predicted before the semis, but the efforts of Tomas Berdych and Sam Querrey are to be commended.  Clearly the competitiveness of these semi finals gave us something that the ladies didn't. (not blaming Venus and Garbine for being too good)

First up were Cilic and Querrey, and the American was firing fastest first.

It didn't matter to Cilic who by serving first was always placing pressure on Querrey to play catch up.  

Not enough pressure to create a break point which never looked likely on either mans serve and a tie break resulted.

Cilic settled quickly, taking a 4-1 points lead but then lost the edge and 6-6 arrived.  Two unforced backhand mistakes from the Croatian saw the opening set slip from his grasp and Querrey was a set to the good.

Set two began with the American serving first and the advantage stayed with him until the seventh game where Cilic opened with a forehand winner and closed with a backhand winner, those enough with errors from the American racquet to cause a break of serve.

Cilic consolidated the break and won the set 6-4 and also the third in a tie break, putting Querrey under the pump, especially with Sam serving second.

When Sam broke in the third game, hopes had been regenerated amongst his fans, only to be reduced a little in the eighth game.  From 0-30 Cilic hit three clean winners to set up a break point which he duly converted for 4-4 and control once more.

At 5-6 Querrey began with a double fault and two unforced errors brought up two match points for Cilic.  A forehand winner on the second of these gave Cilic entrance to his first Wimbledon final 6-7 (6) 6-4 7-6 (3) 7-5.

His next challenge will be slightly more problematic.  Roger Federer is in his eleventh Wimbledon final, chasing his record eighth title, having ousted Tomas Berdych in a worthwhile semi final, yet frustrating if a Berdych fan.

For two fascinating sets the Czech player held serve, albeit through somewhat more difficulties than his Swiss counterpart, and two tie breaks ensued.

Federer is renowned for his abilities in tie breaks - let's be honest his abilities period - and poor Tomas was the latest victim, losing both of these and facing the improbable task of winning the final three sets to beat the maestro.

Coming back from two sets down in any match was something not achieved by Berdych since 2005, so history wasn't on his side.

Indeed Federer tightened the screws once Berdych failed to take advantage of two break points in the sixth game of the third set.  Federer served four brilliant points, two of them aces, to squash any chance.  

Next he broke the Czech serve after setting up break point with a forehand volley winner.

Holding serve to the finish line, Federer stepped into the final, with no Djokovic, Nadal or Murray in sight, but careful not to take Cilic lightly.  He did lose to Marin in the 2014 US Open semi final when everyone had already carved the Swiss name in the trophy.

Berdych can be pleased with his determined performance, knowing that Federer is currently playing tennis at a level similar to 2008-9 which is rather scary.