Wimbledon men’s final, Federer v Cilic
FIVE years after his last Wimbledon triumph, Roger Federer can capture a record eighth All England Club title and become the tournament’s oldest men’s champion of the modern era.
With his 36th birthday fast approaching, the evergreen Swiss will comfortably succeed Arthur Ashe, who was almost 32 when he won in 1975, as Wimbledon’s most senior champion.
Victory over Croatian giant Marin Cilic will also give him a 19th career Grand Slam title and second in three majors this year after sweeping to a fifth Australian Open in January following a six-month absence.
The match is underway. Follow our live blog of the match below.
Federer is tied with Pete Sampras on seven Wimbledon titles since beating Andy Murray in the 2012 final.
Wimbledon is just his seventh event of the year; 28-year-old Cilic is in his 15th. Cilic’s game is made for grass and 12 months ago he led Federer by two sets to love and held three match points in an epic quarter-final which the Swiss superstar eventually claimed. When Cilic won his only Slam in New York at the US Open three years ago, he demolished Federer in straight sets in the semi-finals.
Cilic is only the second Croatian man to reach the Wimbledon final after Goran Ivanisevic, his former coach, who swept to a memorable title victory in 2001.
Cilic sets up finals berth1:11
Wimbledon: Marin Cilic will play Roger Federer in his maiden Wimbledon final.
A win would make him the first Wimbledon champion outside of Federer, Murray, Djokovic and Nadal since Lleyton Hewitt triumphed in 2002. However, he has only won one of his last 12 matches against a top five player at the Slams, even if that was over Federer in New York three years ago.
Croatia’s Marin Cilic at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon.Source:AFP
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
ROGER FEDERER leads MARIN CILIC 6-1
2016 Wimbledon Grass QF Federer 6-7 (4/7), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), 6-3
2014 US Open Hard SF Cilic 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
2014 Toronto Hard R16 Federer 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-4
2012 Shanghai Hard QF Federer 6-3, 6-4
2011 US Open Hard R32 Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
2011 Monte Carlo Clay R16 Federer 6-4, 6-3
2008 Paris Hard R16 Federer 6-3, 6-4
PATHS TO THE FINAL
Marin Cilic (CRO)
1st rd: bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
2nd rd: bt Florian Mayer (GER) 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 7-5
3rd rd: bt Steve Johnson (USA x26) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4
4th rd: bt Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x18) 6-2, 6-2, 6-2
QF: bt Gilles Muller (LUX x16) 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1
SF: bt Sam Querrey (USA x24) 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5
Roger Federer (SUI)
1st rd: bt Alexander Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-3, 3-0 — retired
2nd rd: bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 7-6 (7/0), 6-3, 6-2
3rd rd: bt Mischa Zverev (GER x27) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4
4th rd: bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x13) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
QF: bt Milos Raonic (CAN x6) 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4)
SF: bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x11) 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4
LIVE SCORE
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Originally published as Wimbledon final live: Fed strikes early blow
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