2008 Wimbledon Championships - Day By Day - Day 11

Day 11

The first semifinal of the men's singles was the eleventh encounter between World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer, and former World No. 1, now 75th-ranked and victor, earlier in the tournament, of ATP No. 3 Novak Djoković, Russian Marat Safin, whose appearance in the semifinals was the first in a Grand Slam since he won the 2005 Australian Open, where he defeated Federer in the semifinal. The Swiss broke Safin in his first service game, racing through the first set to take it 6–3, before the Russian raised his level of play, and both players went on keeping their serves to a second set tie-break, which Safin eventually lost 3–7, letting Federer take his two-sets-to-love advantage to pressure him, and eventually break in the last game of the third set to claim a 6–3, 7–6(3), 6–4 victory, in less than two hours. The win meant Federer would reach his sixteenth Grand Slam final, and his sixth consecutive one in Wimbledon, already equalling Björn Borg's record of runs at the tournament, from his first win at the 1976 Wimbledon Championships to his lost final, after having won five consecutive ones, to John McEnroe at the 1981 Wimbledon Championships. The second semifinal opposed ATP No. 2, French Open and Queen's Club Championships winner, and defending finalist Rafael Nadal, to unseeded, 2003 Australian Open runner-up Rainer Schüttler, ATP No. 94, who finished his semifinal against Arnaud Clément only on the previous afternoon, after three-hours-and-a-half of play. Nadal raced early to a 4–0 lead, taking the first set 6–1, before Schüttler started to fight back, breaking the Spanish and dominating him through the second set, keeping his serve until 5–4, when serving to even the score to one-set-all, Nadal broke him, eventually winning the set in a tie-break 7–3, and keeping his edge on the German up to the end of the third set to win, in little more than two hours, on the score of 6–1, 7–6(3), 6–4. The win allowed Nadal to advance to his seventh Grand Slam final, his third consecutive one in Wimbledon, and set up his eighteenth meeting against Roger Federer, the sixth in a Grand Slam final.

• Seeded players out: None.

The second men's doubles semifinal, between ninth seeds Lukáš Dlouhý & Leander Paes and second seeds Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjić, and which was stopped by the night on Day 10 as the latter were leading 7–6(4), 4–6, 6–1, 3–3, resumed, to see the Czech Dlouhy and the Indian, 1999 Wimbledon champion Paes break their opponents and win the fourth set, taking the match to a fifth one, in which 2002 Wimbledon doubles runner-up Nestor & 2004 and 2006 runner-up Zimonjic made the difference, ultimately clinching a 7–6(4), 4–6, 6–1, 4–6, 8–6 victory, to face Jonas Björkman & Kevin Ullyett, and try, for Nestor, to finally complete a career Grand Slam and for Zimonjić, to win his first ever Grand Slam title.

The semifinals of the women's doubles took place, first confronting 2000 and 2002 champions and eleventh seeds Serena Williams & Venus Williams, to unseeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy & Australian Casey Dellacqua, with the Williams sisters, who lost no set since the beginning of the competition, dominating their opponents throughout the encounter, winning the match 6–3, 6–3, after only an hour of play and advance to their third doubles final in Wimbledon, having won the two first ones. That win also marked the second time since the 2002 Wimbledon Championships Serena and Venus Williams would be facing each other in the singles final, and be present together in the doubles final. The top half of the draw's semifinal took place between top ranked, recent Birmingham and Eastbourne winners and defending champions Cara Black & Liezel Huber, and sixteenth-seeded 2001 doubles champion Lisa Raymond & partner Samantha Stosur, with the latter taking the early advantages in each set, breaking the World No. 1s four times during the encounter and eventually knocking them out of the tournament on the score of 6–3, 6–3, in little more than an hour, to reach their fourth Grand Slam final together, after the 2005 US Open, the 2006 Australian Open and the 2006 French Open.

In the first semifinal of the mixed event, top seeds Mike Bryan & Katarina Srebotnik entirely dominated their unseeded opponents Igor Andreev & Maria Kirilenko to win the match on the final score of 6–4, 6–2, after little more than an hour, and proceed to their first Grand Slam final together. The win allowed Mike Bryan to advance to his fourth Grand Slam mixed final, his second in Wimbledon after finishing as the runner-up in 2001, and Srebotnik to advance to her eighth Grand Slam mixed final, her first in Wimbledon. Twelfth-seeded defending champion Jamie Murray & partner, women's doubles No. 1 Liezel Huber made the strongest start of their semifinal against unseeded Bob Bryan & Samantha Stosur quickly taking the first set 6–2 in twenty-one minutes, before Bryan & Stosur started to fight back, taking the second set to a tie-break, easily winning it 7–1, and extending their domination in the third set, eventually taking the match 2–6, 7–6(1), 6–4, to reach their first Grand Slam mixed doubles final together. The final would be Bob Bryan's sixth, the second in Wimbledon, after a 2006 loss, and Stosur's second, after the 2005 Australian Open. The win marked the second time in the year Bob Bryan and Katarina Srebotnik would face each other in a Grand Slam mixed doubles final, having already confronted at the French Open, set up the first ever meeting in a Grand Slam final of Bob and Mike Bryan, and marked the first time, with Stosur's win, a player would be present in both the doubles and the mixed doubles final of Wimbledon since Cara Black in 2004.

• Seeded players out: Lukáš Dlouhý / Leander Paes; Cara Black / Liezel Huber; Jamie Murray / Liezel Huber.