Safin feels fearsome force of Federer

PRETTY simple. Those two words, used by Roger Federer himself, have summed up the champion's progression to his sixth successive Wimbledon final.

Even in yesterday's semi-final, against the imposing, rejuvenated figure of Marat Safin, the world No 1 won while appearing to exert himself on no more than a handful of points. The 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 victory extended Federer's winning run on grass to 65 matches, and he now meets Rafael Nadal for the third successive year. Federer was the only man in the last four to have got through the previous five rounds without dropping a set, and even in the tiebreak against Safin that record never came under threat. But that statistic, while an indication of the Swiss player's current form, is less significant by far than another which he hopes to alter tomorrow.

At present he is second best in terms of consecutive Wimbledon titles won to William Renshaw, whose sequence of six victories was completed in 1886. After he won his first singles crown in 1881, however, Renshaw only had to win one match in the Challenge Round to retain his title. The fact he succeeded five times running suggests Renshaw was the pre-eminent player of his day, but if Federer does make it six in a row, having each time played seven rounds, he can surely claim to have achieved something greater than Renshaw.

After that, the target will be the Wimbledon record of seven, held jointly by Renshaw and Pete Sampras, neither of whom reached that total in a single run. But, while he said earlier in the week that he wants to keep going for another five or even ten years, come tomorrow afternoon he will be looking no further ahead than the match against Nadal.

The Spaniard ran him close last year, the second time running the two had met in the final here, and he has made a significant improvement on grass since then, as he showed three weeks ago, for example, in winning the Artois Championship at Queen's. A week further back, he thrashed Federer in the French Open final, and that result combined with his better form led many to conclude that the Spaniard would be the favourite to win Wimbledon this year.

That has changed thanks to the top seed's form over the past fortnight, and the final now has to be regarded as too close to call. After matches against Dominik Hrbaty, Robin Soderling, Marc Giquel and Lleyton Hewitt, Federer raised his game in the quarter-final against Mario Ancic, but hardly needed to; and the same was true of yesterday's semi. Safin, a former world No 1, has been on superb form this fortnight, and knocked out three seeds, including the No 3 Novak Djokovic, en route to yesterday's match.

Even so, there was nothing that the 28-year-old Russian could do to prevent the champion's imperious progress to the final. After Federer won the opening game of the match without dropping a point, Safin, who was broken on his first service game, was unable to cope with the sudden change of pace which Federer introduced at times during longer rallies. He did well to hold his serve on the three following occasions, but by then the damage was done. Playing with admirable economy, Federer served out the set with four aces.

Neither player managed a break in the second set and Federer had to win a tiebreak 7-3 to go two sets ahead.

The third set, too, was close, but it was taking Safin all his effort simply to stay in the match. He threw his racket down to the ground in frustration when Federer held for a 5-4 lead, as if acknowledging there was nothing he could do. An ace in the next game to lead 30-15 gave the Russian a slight hope, but Federer then upped the pressure and took the next three points.

It was simple, and it was pretty. When asked to describe his route to the final, the Swiss replied: "Pretty simple. I mean, I haven't had any problems whatsoever throughout the championships. It's been a perfect way to the finals, but there's one more left. So far it's been quite unbelievable, actually."

Ominously for Nadal, Federer reckons he has yet to play at his best. "I've just been playing consistently well. I wasn't maybe pushed to the degree where I have to say I played my best tennis ever. If I were to win on Sunday then maybe I can say I've been playing my best ever, but at the moment I think it's a little bit early."

IN NUMBERS

0 Games Federer has lost on his own serve at Wimbledon this year

12 Grand slam titles to his name going into tomorrow's final

14 Aces delivered during the semi-final defeat of Marat Safin

16 Grand slam final appearances when he faces Nadal tomorrow

40 Wins in a row at Wimbledon

55 ATP Tour titles in his oversized trophy cabinet

65 Consecutive wins confirm his mastery of grass

67 Per cent of his first serves rattled in against Safin