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LONDON. – Andy Murray set up a Wimbledon tennis semi-final showdown with Roger Federer as the world number three eased to a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win against unseeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil yesterday.

Murray illuminated a rainy day at the All England Club with a ruthlessly efficient display, collecting his 150th Grand Slam match victory to move a step closer to his second Wimbledon title.

The 28-year-old Scot will make his 17th Grand Slam semi-final appearance, and his sixth at the All England Club, against seven-time champion Federer tomorrow.

Seven-time champion Federer reached his 10th Wimbledon semi-final yesterday with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over French 12th seed Gilles Simon.

The 33-year-old Swiss, bidding to become the oldest Wimbledon champion in the Open Era, shrugged off two rain delays as well as being broken for the first time at the tournament to complete victory in just 94 minutes.

Federer fired 11 aces and 36 winners as he secured a sixth win in eight meetings with Simon, who was attempting to reach the last-four of a major for the first time.

“The stop and go with the rain are always tough but I think I used them to my advantage. They helped me rather than hindered me,” said Federer who said he was looking forward to a potential semi-final against 2013 champion Murray should he get past unseeded Pospisil in his quarter-final.

Federer defeated the British third seed in the 2012 Wimbledon final before Murray gained revenge just weeks later in the Olympic Games final.

“We both like to look back on that summer of 2012. If we knew I would win Wimbledon and him Olympics, I think we both would have taken it. It was a great summer for us,” said the world number two.

Federer broke for a 3-0 lead in the first set against Simon before rain sent the players off Court One for the first rain delay.

Forty minutes later, they returned and Federer swiftly claimed the opener on the back of 15 winners to Simon’s four.

The Swiss was 4-3 up with a break in the second and then moved to 5-3 on his 116th consecutive service hold, a streak stretching back to the first round in Halle last month.

But that record was shattered in the next game when 30-year-old Simon broke the 17-time major winner, who had only faced two break points at this year’s Wimbledon before Wednesday. – AFP.