Djokovic wins five-hour battle against Baghdatis

Novak Djokovic dug into his vast reserves of willpower to outlast Marcos Baghdatis and reach his first Wimbledon semi-final on Friday.

The Serbian fourth seed won 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5 after five hours of riveting action on Court One.

Baghdatis produced a remarkable comeback after losing the first two sets on tiebreaks then trailing 3-0 in the third.

Djokovic looked exhausted in the fifth but stayed neck and neck with his Cypriot opponent and made the vital breakthrough at 5-5.

He then summoned all his energy to serve out the match and set up a reprise of his French Open semi-final against Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal, a match Nadal won on his way to the title.

In other quarter-final action, world No 1 Roger Federer woke up after a sleepy spell to overcome Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 and reach the semi-finals at the grass court Grand Slam, where he is aiming for a fifth successive title, while French Open champion Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals for the second successive year.

Results

4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat 10-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 7-6(4), 7-6(9), 6-7(3), 4-6, 7-5; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-2.