Federer crashes out of Wimbledon to Berdych

The world No 2, who has won the men's singles title in six of the last seven years, loses 3-1 to the Czech player.

Roger Federer has not been at his clinical best during the Wimbledon tournament.

Tomas Berdych pulled off the biggest win of his career as the defending champion Roger Federer crashed out of Wimbledon. Federer, who has won the men's singles title in six of the last seven years, became the latest casualty in a tournament of shocks as he went down 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to the world No 13 on a stunned Centre Court. The result was greeted with widespread disbelief as the Swiss ace joined last year's runner-up Andy Roddick and the women's second seed Venus Williams on the wayside. Berdych, who had lost eight of his previous 10 meetings with Federer, becomes the first Czech to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon men's singles since Ivan Lendl 20 years ago and is aiming to become the first winner from his country since Jan Kodes in 1973.

Standing in his way in Friday's semi-finals will be third seed Novak Djokovic, who has beaten him in both their previous meetings. Djokovic, the world No 3, defeated the unseeded Taiwanese Yen-hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 earlier today on Court 1. * PA