Five-time champion Roger Federer and British third seed Andy Murray cruised into the Wimbledon semi-finals on Wednesday while Andy Roddick clinched a thrilling five-set epic against Lleyton Hewitt.

Federer reached his 21st consecutive Grand Slam last-four with a majestic 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) dismantling of giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Federer, bidding for a sixth All England Club title and a record 15th major, will now tackle German veteran Tommy Haas, who stunned Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3, for a place in Sunday's final.

Murray, meanwhile, saw off Spain's former French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final.

The 22-year-old, bidding to become Britain's first home men's champion in 73 years, next faces two-time runner-up Roddick who needed almost four hours to see off 2002 champion Hewitt 6-3, 6-7 (10/12), 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-4.

"To be in my 21st consecutive major semi-final shows how consistent I have been and injury-free. I'm playing well at the moment but there are some big matches to come," said Federer.

Going into Wednesday's clash, Karlovic hadn't dropped serve in the tournament, had won 79 service games in four rounds and faced just four break points.

But second seed Federer ended that streak in the fourth game of the opening set against the 6ft 10in (2.08m) Croatian and never looked back.

Karlovic, the 22nd seed, had fired a huge 137 aces to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final, but he managed a relatively modest 23 on Wednesday and won just 14 points on the Federer serve.

Murray became only the third British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in the Open era after racing past wildcard Ferrero.

"There were quite a lot of errors from both of us at the start," said Murray, who sent down 18 aces.

"Once I had got that first set I started to settle down and I returned great in the end."

Haas will be playing his first Wimbledon semi-final at the 11th attempt thanks to his win over Djokovic who he also defeated in the Halle grasscourt final.

The German, a former world number two who has been plagued by injuries, dug deep to save three set points in the second set tiebreak and despite a third set recovery by the Serbian, Haas stayed on course to become the oldest champion since Arthur Ashe in 1975.

"I am playing some of my best tennis. I didn't have too many expectations coming here but the win at Halle was great for my confidence," said Haas who was two sets ahead against Federer in the French Open last month before the Swiss hit back.

Roddick, seeded sixth, was on course for the last four when he broke in the fourth set against Hewitt after taking a two sets to one lead, but the Australian defied a leg injury to send the match to a final set.

The American last reached the semi-finals at the All England Club in 2005 when he went on to suffer the second of two successive final defeats to Federer.

He hadn't been past the last eight at Wimbledon since that loss, but he finally ended that barren run after a heroic battle with Hewitt who had also played five sets in the previous round to see off Radek Stepanek.

"It's my second Grand Slam semi-final of the year having not figured in the picture for a while," said Roddick.

"I think Lleyton was hurt a little bit but it's a testament to the type of player he is that he made such a fight of it.

"We used to go at it a lot when we were younger. But there's a lot of respect there now. We've grown up and we're like a couple of old married dudes."

Hewitt, whose ranking has slumped after a prolonged absence to recover from hip surgery, said he will take positives from Wimbledon where he stunned fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the second round.

"I played great tennis and took it to him. Even today, I lost to one of the best grasscourt players," said the Australian.

AFP

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