Confident Berdych puts glum Federer to the sword

The 24-year-old world No 13 produced the latest shock of the Championships by knocking out defending champion Roger Federer and will face Novak Djokovic tomorrow for a place in the final.

Berdych, who is hoping to become the first Czech men's champion at Wimbledon since Jan Kodes in 1973, had never been past the quarter-finals in six previous visits to Wimbledon but he believes he is in the best form of his career.

He ended an eight-match losing run against Federer in Miami in March and earlier this month achieved his best grand slam run by reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros.

"It's not only about the last two weeks," he said after posting a

6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 victory. "I got confidence from a couple of matches at the beginning of the year and then it keeps going and going. It started I would say in the United States, in Indian Wells and Miami, so it's quite long ago.

"You get more and more experience and I get a little bit more focused, mentally stronger than before."

Federer could not handle Berdych's booming serve and his clinical forehands as he joined last year's runner-up Andy Roddick on the sidelines, leaving his conqueror to prepare for another big test.

Berdych has lost both previous meetings with Djokovic but insists he is a much-improved player now.

"It's not that important how he's going to play, the important thing is what my game is going to be," he said. "That's what I said before the match against Roger and it worked.

"I'm going to try to do the same on Friday, to be 100 per cent ready to concentrate."

A disappointed Federer took some of the gloss of Berdych's finest moment by claiming injuries to his back and right knee have affected his performances this fortnight.

"I was just not playing well enough," said Federer.

"And when he had to, he was able to come up with some good stuff. But I definitely gave away this match.

"I have been struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue since the final in Halle. You can't concentrate on each and every point because you do feel the pain sometimes. And then you tend to play differently than the way you want to play. But I've been feeling bad for the last two, three matches now. It's just not good and healthy to play under these kind of conditions."

Third-seeded Djokovic said he would "give everything" to reach the final after romping to an easy victory against Yen-Hsun Lu.

The third seed was imperious as he ended Lu's fairytale run at the quarter-final stage with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory that secured his first semi-final since 2007.

Taiwan No 1 Lu caused a huge shock in the previous round to oust Roddick but was outclassed yesterday and is already looking for an opportunity to put the record straight.

"I'd like to come back here again next year," Lu said.

"And I hope I can play against Djokovic again. Probably he's happy now, it was too easy for him. I will try my best when I come back next year."

Djokovic did not have to defend a single break point as he pushed his performance levels close to those which took him to the Australian Open title in 2008 but he will be taking nothing for granted against Berdych.

"Obviously, both of us, we (are) going to have a great motivation to proceed to the next round and final," said Djokovic.

"For him, that would be a first final, for me, a third. But still, I would give everything to play the final in Wimbledon.

"Berdych is a player who won against Roger in four sets. We cannot forget that. He's going to go for the shots. I think he has not much to lose."

Despite the exit of Federer, three of the men's top four seeds will contest Friday's semi-finals.

With Britain's Andy Murray fighting back from dropping his first set of the tournament to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win in four sets there is now a mouthwatering clash with world No 1 Rafael Nadal in the other semi-final.

Nadal bounced back from the shock of losing the first five games of his quarter-final against Robin Soderling to win 3-6 6-3 7-6 6-1.

The 2008 champion was one point away from being on the end of a first-set whitewash before gradually getting on top and showed little sign of the knee problem that flared up during the first week of the tournament.

"Being in the semi-final of Wimbledon is great for me, it's a very important moment in the season for me," said Nadal.