Roger Federer became the oldest Wimbledon finalist in 41 years when he downed Andy Murray 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 on Friday to set up a title rematch with defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Federer, 33, will be playing in his 10th Wimbledon final on Sunday and 26th at all the grand slams where victory will give him an eighth All England Club crown and 18th major.
His demolition of 2013 champion Murray was his most impressive in recent years and featured 20 aces, 56 winners and just 11 unforced errors.
He allowed Murray, who he has now defeated in five out of six Grand Slam clashes, just one break point and that was in the opening game of the two-hour, seven-minute match.
Djokovic, who beat Federer in last year’s final, had earlier swept into his fourth Wimbledon final with a ruthlessly efficient 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Richard Gasquet.
“It’s been tough, Andy has been playing very well this season and there was so much expectation on this match,” said Federer, who is the oldest finalist since 39-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1974.
“I had to try to focus and keep holding my serve one more game. You do it so many times you think the break will go against you eventually, but I managed to hold on.
“I was unbelievably happy. I maybe didn’t show it at the end because the crowd went quiet. People maybe expected it to go four sets, me as well.
“My serve was the key. I’ve been serving very well in this tournament.”
Murray said he had served well and was happy with his performance.
“Roger served fantastic. I had one break point in the first set but after that I didn’t get any opportunities,” conceded Murray who was looking to make the Wimbledon final for a third time.
“The pressure built and I was broken at the end of all three sets. But I didn’t play that badly. I had a good match.”ederer fought off a break point in the opening game, but then neither man blinked until the Swiss carved out his first opportunities in the 12th game.
Murray saved the first set point with an accurate, low drive into the corner but was helpless on the second when Federer drilled a return to his feet which the Scot could only nudge into the net.
Federer fired 11 aces, 23 winners and committed just three unforced errors.
Murray was fortunate to fight off another break point in the fourth game of the second set when Federer shanked a backhand wide with an open court at his mercy.
Murray then saved five set points in an incredible 15-minute 10th game which went to seven deuces. The fifth was saved after a 21-shot rally.
But the Federer siege continued and he got the breakthrough in the 12th game, opening the court before swatting away a high, loose response from Murray.
Serve dominated the third set until the 10th game when an unreturned backhand took Federer to match point which he converted when Murray went wide with a forehand.
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Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Tuesday results:
- Singapore bt Malaysia by 29 runs
- UAE bt Oman by 13 runs
- Hong Kong bt Nepal by 3 wickets
Final:
Thursday, UAE v Hong Kong
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The years Ramadan fell in May
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC