Two more wins would be grand for Federer

Roger Federer can today move to

within one match of his dream of

emulating the great Rod Laver

when he takes on Russia’s Nikolay

Davydenko in the men’s semi-finals.

Two more victories and the world

No 1 can become only the third

man in history to hold all four

Grand Slam titles at the same time

— although he will probably have

to overcome defending champion

Rafael Nadal to achieve that.

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Nadal today takes on Serbia’s

Novak Djokovic but first Federer

will attempt to reach his eighth

consecutive Grand Slam final in his

bid to replicate the feat of Laver

(1962 and 69) and Donald Budge

(1938).

While the Swiss has a compelling

8-0 record over the best of the

Russians in the men’s game, four

of those matches have been close.

Davydenko said: "I played him in

the Australian Open quarter-final last year and felt I always had a chance to win. Roger was always

having some trouble against me

but I need to find a game to beat

him. It’s not just hitting the same

shots against other players and

thinking that should be enough."

Nadal and Djokovic have been the

two busiest players on the tour this

year, which at some point is going

to tell, but there has been nothing

to suggest that Nadal, the master

on clay, will not make it through.

Britain’s Alex Bogdanovic and

Richard Bloomfield have been

awarded wildcards into the Artois

Championship at London’s

Queen’s Club next week after

Andy Murray confirmed his

withdrawal.

Murray had no option

but to pull out, given that he has

only managed gentle knock-ups

so far with coach Brad Gilbert but

he has not given up hope of

making it back for Wimbledon.