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Associated PressRoger Federer remains undefeated against Andy Roddick after a dominant 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3 semifinal.
WIMBLEDON, England - Andy Roddick's run at Wimbledon was stopped by the closest thing there is to Pete Sampras right now: Roger Federer.
With brilliant serving and returning, plus shotmaking so good Roddick was moved to shout praise, Federer won the semifinal 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3 Friday to become the first Swiss man to reach a Grand Slam title match.
"I don't know if I've been beaten that convincingly when I felt like I went into the match thinking, "Okay, I'm playing well,"' said fifth-seeded Roddick, who is 0-4 against Federer. "I played not great, but by no means was it a bad match for me. He played very well."
In Sunday's final, No.4 Federer meets unseeded Aussie Mark Philippoussis, another player for whom the word "potential" sometimes has been an albatross. Philippoussis beat No.13 Sebastien Grosjean 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3. An Australian has made the final four straight years.
The last time both men's semifinals lasted only three sets was in 1982, when the winners were a couple of guys named Connors and McEnroe.
"To raise my game like this for such a big match is incredible," Federer said.
He outaced Roddick 17-4, did not double fault and conjured 61 winners to 12 unforced errors. He served and volleyed on little more than half his serves, winning 71 percent of those points. And he confounded Roddick by returning serves that consistently came in at 130-137 mph.
Add it up, and it was the dominating display of classic grass-court tennis against a top player that hadn't been seen around these parts since Sampras won his record-tying seventh Wimbledon title in 2000.
The next year, a 19-year-old Federer announced his promise by snapping Sampras' 31-match winning streak at the All England Club in a fourth-round shocker on Centre Court.
But Federer failed to reach another major quarterfinal until now, losing in the first round three times, including at the French Open in May.
"I knew it was in me, but I didn't know what it takes, if it only needs time or if it needs work. People were saying too quickly, "It's going to happen.' Especially after the Sampras match," said Federer, the 1998 Wimbledon junior champ.
"I'm happy to put all these kind of negative talkers - that I don't perform well in Slams - a little bit in the corner."
Still only 20, Roddick was in his second major semifinal of 2003 (Australian Open) and his career. He rebounded impressively from a first-round loss at the French Open, teaming with Andre Agassi's former coach, Brad Gilbert, to win a grass-court title at Queen's Club and displaying more maturity as a person and player at Wimbledon.
But Federer crammed a tournament's worth of pretty shots into one match, among them the crosscourt forehand winner he half-volleyed to win a 16-stroke point that ended the second set.
As Roddick went to his chair, he exclaimed: "Too good!"
As the match was dissected across the grounds, one name kept popping up: Sampras, who has not played this year and missed Wimbledon for the first time since 1988.
Asked if he has ever seen a young player as complete as Federer, Boris Becker said: "Well, compare him with a young Sampras: Maybe he doesn't have the speed on the serve yet, but the rest of the game is very much like Pete's game."
And Becker knows something about precociousness: In 1985, he won Wimbledon at 17. The only other unseeded champion since the tournament began seeding in 1927 was Goran Ivanisevic two years ago, and the 48th-ranked Philippoussis will try to be No.3.
Like Federer, Philippoussis raised expectations with an upset of Sampras at 19, at the 1996 Australian Open.
He made his first Grand Slam final two years later, losing at the 1998 U.S. Open. But three left knee operations in 2000-01 halted his progress. Philippoussis worried he would not be back, particularly when he spent two months in a wheelchair.
"I've been through a lot," said Philippoussis, who won the last five points of his tiebreaker against Grosjean and broke to open the second set. "After that third surgery, I pretty much told myself never to look too far ahead."
How about a forecast for Sunday?
"Obviously, he's been playing some great tennis," Philippoussis said. "But I've been playing pretty good myself."