Cilic, Berdych, Querrey: Who can stop Federer winning Wimbledon?

With Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic both out at the quarter-final stage, Roger Federer is the overwhelming favourite to win an eighth Wimbledon title.

He faces Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals on Friday while Marin Cilic, the only other major champion in the last four, comes up against Sam Querrey.

Can any of the three outsiders stop Federer from winning his 19th Grand Slam? We look at their chances…

Marin Cilic

Of the three challengers, it is surely Cilic who possesses the biggest threat to Federer.

The Croat might be into his first Wimbledon semi-final at the 11th time of asking but he is a major champion, having won the US Open in 2014, and his route to the final in New York included a straight-sets victory over Federer in the semi-finals.

Cilic also boasts the joint-best grass-court record this season of 11-2, along with the man he beat in the quarter-finals, Gilles Muller.

Now coached by Jonas Bjorkman, Cilic said his victory at the US Open three years ago has helped boost his belief in himself.

"I would say winning the US Open has helped me for all these Grand Slams I have played so far, and I believe the rest of my career," he said.

"Preparation-wise I believe in my own abilities. I believe when coming to these stages of the tournament, I’m going to still be able to play great tennis. I know I have it in me that I can win. That’s extremely important,

"I think an extremely important part is to be mentally fresh, mentally ready. It’s a matter of a few points here and there that can make a huge difference.

"I believe these last couple of months with being really mentally focused every single match has helped me to get to the point where I’m a little bit stronger mentally. I believe that can make a huge difference,"

Cilic has won all four previous meetings against Querrey, three of which were on grass. However, he has only won one of six matches against Federer, although he did push him in five sets at Wimbledon last year.

Sam Querrey

After beating Novak Djokovic in 2016, Querrey was at it again on Wednesday as he beat the defending champion for the second year in succession at Wimbledon.

The American started slowly against Andy Murray but improved as the match wore on and finished with 70 winners, 30 of which were from the net.

"As the match kept going, I just felt more and more confident, more and more like I belonged," he said afterwards, having admitted he was in "shock" at the win.

But how much does Querrey now have left in the tank? He is the first player to win three straight five-setters at Wimbledon since 2007 and will no doubt not be relishing a repeat of his meeting with Cilic at Wimbledon in 2012, which is the second longest match in the tournament’s history.

It lasted five hours and 31 minutes, with Cilic eventually prevailing 17-15 in the fifth set. Querrey has also lost to Cilic in three sets at Queen’s and five sets at Wimbledon in 2009.

"I’ve had some tough grass court losses to him," said the American. "I’m sure my coach Craig (Boynton) will look at those results and tweak a thing or two.

"Part of it’s mental, part of it’s physical. I’m going to go out there and try to keep doing what I’ve been doing these last five matches, and hopefully that will be good enough to win."

If Querrey does meet Federer in the final then he will be looking to get his first win over the Swiss. Their previous three meetings have all been won in straight sets.

Tomas Berdych

Berdych might be a former Wimbledon finalist, but how many would have tipped him to progress to even the last four after a testing year?

The 31-year-old has struggled for form and, after losing in the second round of the French Open, parted ways with coach Goran Ivanisevic.

His win over Dominic Thiem in the last 16 at Wimbledon was only his second top-10 success of the year, but he followed it up with victory against Novak Djokovic after the second seed retired with an elbow injury.

Federer leads the head-to-head 18-6 against Berdych and has won their last seven matches, including wins this year at the Australian Open and in Miami.

However, Berdych did beat Federer in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2010, when he went on to lose to Rafael Nadal in the final.

Speaking after his win over Djokovic, the Czech said: "This is the reward. This is why I go to the court every day, why I go practice, why I do all the things that I have to do for my career and for my results. I can’t be in a better position before Friday’s match."

Berdych, though, is more than aware of the threat that awaits in the semi-finals, calling Federer the "greatest of them all".

"It’s a great challenge to have the opportunity to play him," he added. "I’ve probably never seen him play better tennis than the match we played in Australia, then I had a match point in Miami and almost beat him. Hopefully the third one is the lucky one for me."

We will have Wimbledon finals weekend covered via our website skysports.com/tennis then click through to our dedicated section skysports.com/tennis/wimbledon.

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(c) Sky News 2017: Cilic, Berdych, Querrey: Who can stop Federer winning Wimbledon?