On match point, Roger Federer elevated and tomahawk-chopped and overhead on his way to a 7-6(3), 7-5, 6-3. The scores appear like he “routined” his way to a victory, and that was partly true. Federer seemed on the verge of winning easily, but the only one of the remaining semifinalists that have actually beaten Federer in a major, namely Tommy Haas, found ways to win his serve.

Much as he did in the French Open, Haas’s serve continue to befuddle Federer. Roger almost had a harder time with Haas’s serve than he did with Karlovic’s serve. Haas continued to use the serve and volley to trouble Federer, but needed to use his groundstrokes to mix things up.

Although Federer had few opportunities to break Haas, Federer also never had any break points against him. If Haas was going to win, it had to be in tiebreaks.

Haas managed to keep himself in most sets, despite Federer threatening to break several times. Haas was arguing with himself with his actress girlfriend egging him on, even imitating a backhand and trying to tell him not to miss those shots.

Prior to the match, Tour News said Federer would probably win in four sets. However, Federer had another record ongoing. He had never dropped a set if he reached the semifinals. Since he’s reached the semifinals 7 times, that’s 12 sets of semifinal play.

The statistics keep building up for Federer. He has reached 16 of the last 17 Grand Slam finals, the only blip was against Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open. This is his 7th straight Wimbledon final, having won 5 Wimbledons already and narrowly losing last year’s final.

Wimbledon is usually the surface that gives him the least trouble. He hasn’t looked shaky like he did back in the French Open where he had to play two four setters and two five setters. He’s only dropped one set, that to Philipp Kohlschreiber in a third set tiebreak, and then rolled to a 6-1 fourth set. The one player that might have given him trouble, Novak Djokovic, lost to Haas, the second time in the last few weeks.

It felt like the match was closer than it was, despite Roger not being threatened on his own serve, mostly because Federer had a tough time making a dent in the Haas game.

But at 5-3, he played a long game where he kept getting break point after break point, and finally got through.

As he closes in on breaking Pete Sampras’s 14 Grand Slam titles, perhaps the last point of the match was a fitting tribute. And Federer is closing in on Sampras’s Wimbledon record too. Federer hoped Sampras would show up for the finals, but he understood if Sampras didn’t want to come. After all, the records Sampras expected to stand up for a generation, might only last a tennis generation, which is maybe 5 years.

And Roger Federer does what he does best. Make it to major finals.