Federer, Nadal Reach Wimbledon Semis

WIMBLEDON, England - Roger Federer showed brief moments of vulnerability Friday before reaching the Wimbledon semifinals and moving one step closer to a fifth straight title.

Federer dropped a set for the first time this year at the All England Club, but still beat No. 20 Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

"OK, a set is lost, but a match isn't lost," Federer said.

The man he beat in last year's final, Rafael Nadal, was back to his best, playing for the fifth consecutive day and reaching the semifinals by beating Tomas Berdych 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-2.

Federer was broken in the first set Thursday, when he and Ferrero played for 37 minutes before play was suspended by rain at deuce at 5-5. The 10-time Grand Slam champion won the opening two points on serve Friday, and then easily won the tiebreaker after Ferrero held.

On match point with Ferrero serving, Federer flicked a cross-court forehand that Ferrero couldn't reach.

Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion and a former No. 1, broke Federer to go up 5-3 in the second set and then served it out, but that was the end of the Spaniard's influence on the match.

From 1-1 in third set, Federer won 20 of next 24 points to take set.

Before his brief spell on court Thursday, the top-ranked Federer had not played since beating Marat Safin last Friday in the third round. His fourth-round opponent, Tommy Haas, withdrew with an injury, giving Federer almost a week off.

"It was hard for me. I had many days off," Federer said. "I'm just really happy I came through it and I'm back in the rhythm now."

Federer, who stretched his grass-court winning streak to 52, is trying to win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, something only Bjorn Borg has done in the past 100 years.

Nadal was broken once early in the first set, but didn't faced any more serious challenges. He broke the Czech in the opening games of the second and third sets.

Nadal had his first match point on Berdych's serve at 5-1 in the third set, but the Czech erased it with an ace. Nadal wasted another in the next game, but won when Berdych sent a forehand into the net.

"I had to concentrate with the movement because the ball was very difficult to touch," Nadal said. "Today was very tough with the wind, but anyway I played very good."

The second-seeded Spaniard was stretched to five sets in the previous two rounds, with the former being played over a span of three days at the All England Club. If he wins Saturday's semifinal against Novak Djokovic or Marcos Baghdatis, then Sunday's final would mark Nadal's seventh consecutive day on court.

"Two very, very tough games, tough matches against (Robin) Soderling and (Mikhail) Youzhny," Nadal said. "The most important thing is the victory."

Later Friday, No. 3 Andy Roddick was also scheduled to play No. 12 Richard Gasquet, and No. 4 Djokovic was facing No. 10 Baghdatis.

In the women's semifinals, No. 1 Justine Henin was scheduled to take on No. 18 Marion Bartoli, and No. 6 Ana Ivanovic was to play No. 23 Venus Williams.

Nadal, who lost to Federer in last year's final, is trying to become the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980. The Spaniard has won the last three titles at Roland Garros.

Berdych was playing in the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time. He won the grass-court warm-up tournament in Halle, Germany, in the absence of Federer, but struggled Friday with several bad hops. In the final game, a serve from Nadal took another awkward bounce that went toward his body.

"He's not making a lot of mistakes," Berdych said of Nadal. "He's trying to play similar game like on the clay."

Rain on nine of the first 10 days of the tournament created a huge backlog in the schedule, forcing many of the remaining men and women to play on consecutive days.