LONDON — Seven-time champion Roger Federer demolished Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach his ninth Wimbledon final Friday where he will face old rival Novak Djokovic for the 35th time. Federer will be chasing a record eighth Wimbledon title and 18th Grand Slam crown overall in what will be his 25th championship match at a major while top seed Djokovic, the champion in 2011, targets a seventh major in his third Wimbledon final in four years. Djokovic had earlier defeated Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (9-7) as the threatened overthrow of the established order fell flat. Federer, 32, who becomes the oldest man to make a Grand Slam final since Andre Agassi reached the 2005 Australian Open final at the age of 33, will take an 18-16 career lead over Djokovic into Sunday's championship match. “It was down to big concentration really,” said Federer, who will be playing in his first Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 2012 when he went level with Pete Sampras as a seven-time winner. Federer has beaten Djokovic in two out of three meetings in 2014 and was looking forward to renewing their rivalry which stretches back to 2006. “Novak and myself always play good matches. We've played a lot in the last six months. It's gone back and forth a bit,” he said. Raonic came into his first Grand Slam semifinal having fired a tournament-leading 148 aces. But that crude, one-dimensional approach was never likely to be enough against a man of Federer's class. The Swiss had a 4-0 career advantage over the 23-year-old going into Friday's encounter and once the seven-time champion broke in the first game, the tone was set for a semifinal which had none of the drama of the earlier tie between Djokovic and Dimitrov. Federer allowed just seven points on his serve to Raonic in the first set and was equally dominant in the second where a break in the ninth game was the foundation for an untroubled two sets lead. The Canadian, bidding to become the first man from his country to reach a Grand Slam singles final, remained oddly impassive throughout his Center Court examination, never engaging the crowd on his side as his big day passed him by. Federer, serving and volleying to avoid the pitfalls of the bone-dry baselines which had send Djokovic and Dimitrov slipping and sliding, broke again for 5-4 in the third and the tie was wrapped up in the next game. Earlier, the top-seeded Djokovic ran off six of the final seven points in the tiebreaker to beat the rising Bulgarian star. Djokovic, the 2011 champion and runner-up last year, overcame the loss of five straight games in the second set, seized control with a more aggressive game and took advantage of eight double-faults by Dimitrov — including three in a row in the third game of the fourth set and one in the final tiebreaker. The match seemed to be headed for a fifth set when Dimitrov went up 6-3 in the tiebreaker, giving him three set points. But Djokovic held firm and erased all three. Dimitrov then served his eighth double fault to go down 7-6, handing Djokovic a match point. Dimitrov saved that one with a forehand pass to make it 7-7. Djokovic hit a forehand winner on the next point as Dimitrov slipped to the turf — one his many tumbles. Djokovic then closed out the match with a forehand passing shot that clipped the top of the net. Dimitrov showed flashes of his talent, hitting more winners than Djokovic (48-45) but had more unforced errors (33-26). Each player broke serve three times. — Agencies
