Defending champion Novak Djokovic reached his sixth Wimbledon final Friday as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal prepared to meet at the All England Club for the first time since their epic 2008 title showdown.
World number one and four-time Wimbledon winner Djokovicbooked his 25th Grand Slam final appearance with a nervy 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2triumph over Spain’s 23rd seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
“This has been a remarkable tournament for me and to bein another final is a dream come true,” said the top seed.
“I had to dig deep, Roberto was playing his firstsemi-final at a Grand Slam and he was not really overwhelmed.
“It was a really close opening four to five games ofthe third set that could have gone either way — thankfully it went mine.”
The 32-year-old will go into Sunday’s final seeking a 16thmajor title with a career advantage over both his great rivals.
He leads Federer 25-22 and Nadal 28-26.
“I will watch Federer and Nadal. I am a fan of thatmatch up — it’s one of the most epic rivalries of all time.”
Watched by a Royal Box crammed with sports and movieA-listers — David Beckham, Rod Laver, Gary Player, Jude Law, Damian Lewis —Djokovic swept through the first set with breaks in the second and eighthgames.
It seemed certain that Djokovic was going to spend a lotless time on court in this semi-final compared to 12 months ago when he neededfive sets and five hours and 15 minutes to beat Nadal.
However, Bautista Agut, who had already defeated the Serbtwice this year, eventually settled and broke for 2-1 in the second set.
Djokovic fought off two break points, via a 23-shot rally,in the fifth game.
But the 31-year-old Bautista Agut held his nerve toeventually level the semi-final at 6-4 off a fortuitous net cord.
Djokovic, increasingly irritated by a restless crowd, brokefor 4-2 in the third set and held for 5-2 off the back of a lung-busting45-shot rally.
The set was secured, ironically off another net cord whichfell this time in the Serb’s favour.
Bautista Agut, who had planned to be in Ibiza this week forhis stag party, fought off break points in the opening game of the fourth set.
But Djokovic was relentless and tightened his grip, breakingtwice for a 4-1 lead, and eventually claimed victory on a fifth match point.
Federer and Nadal will battle for a place in the final laterFriday, 11 years after they mesmerised Centre Court in a Grand Slamchampionship match widely regarded as the greatest ever played.
Nadal emerged triumphant that day, winning in five sets in afour-hour 48-minute epic of fluctuating fortunes that stretched out over sevenhours because of constant, momentum-shifting rain interruptions.
The Spaniard won 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (8/10), 9-7 as theclock ticked past 9pm and with the famous stadium in near-darkness.
Over a decade later, the sport’s two most successful playersnow have 38 Grand Slam titles between them and more than $100 million in prizemoney each.
Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion at Wimbledon, has the edgeoverall, leading his great rival and friend 24-15 and 10-3 at the Slams.
However, it is eight-time champion Federer who just edgestheir Wimbledon head-to-head 2-1 after winning the 2006 and 2007 finals beforeNadal famously broke the spell in 2008.
Nadal handed Federer his worst loss at a Slam in 11 years inthe semi-finals at Roland Garros last month on his way to a 12th title inParis.
The Spanish third seed has yet to face a seeded player andhas only been truly tested once, in his four-set second round victory over NickKyrgios in what was comfortably the tournament’s most bad-tempered match.
Federer, 37, is the oldest man in the semi-finals of a Slamsince 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open.He is in his 13th semi-final at the tournamentand 45th at the majors. In a career illuminated by landmarks, he became thefirst man to register 100 match wins at a single Slam when he came back from aset down to beat Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.