Kevin Anderson pulled off a stunning upset in even more stunning fashion, saving a match point and rallying from two sets down to beat Roger Federer in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday. Anderson prevailed 13-11 in the fifth.
(8) Kevin Anderson def. (1) Roger Federer 2-6, 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11
The overwhelming tournament favorite Roger Federer was stunned by South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a marathon quarterfinal at Wimbledon on Wednesday afternoon.
For a couple sets, it seemed to be business as usual in the No. 1 seed–except for the fact that Federer was playing on Court No. 1 instead of Centre Court. Still, the second-ranked Swiss was able to handle Anderson’s booming first serve.
Even through the third set, there wasn’t a sense of urgency with the partisan crowd–until he served at 5-5 and Anderson suddenly snagged the break. He served out the set and with it, Federer lost his first set of the fortnight.
From there, the Swiss champion seemed to blink at just the wrong time. The fourth set went into Anderson’s pocket and Federer found himself battling for his tournament life in the fifth. Since Wimbledon doesn’t have a fifth-set tiebreak, one of them would have to secure a break of serve in order to prevail. Both men held fairly comfortably, but again it was Federer that blinked first. In his service game at 11-11, Federer donated an uncharacteristic double-fault and then an unforced error to give Anderson the break.
The eighth seed advances to a surprising semifinal showdown against John Isner on Friday.
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