London: Roger Federer neutralised Ivo Karlovic’s huge serves Wednesday to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals and move a step closer to a record 15th Grand Slam championship.

In a match featuring short points and few rallies, Federer conjured up a few great returns to break the 6-foot-10 (2.08 m) Croatian twice and secure a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory on another sunbaked day at the All England Club.

Federer, closing in on his sixth Wimbledon title, reached his 21st consecutive semi-final at a Grand Slam tournament and extended his winning streak to 17 matches with another vintage performance on his favourite Centre Court.

“I love the record I have of reaching so many semi-finals in Grand Slams in a row — 21 is quite a number,” Federer said. “It shows how consistent I’ve been.”

It was Federer’s ninth win in 10 matches against Karlovic, who was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Federer’s next opponent will be Germany’s Tommy Haas, who upset fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to his first Wimbledon semi-final. The 31-year-old Haas was the oldest player in the quarters, while the 22-year-old Djokovic was the youngest.

Third-seeded Andy Murray swept aside Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final and keep up his bid to become the first British player to win the men’s title since Fred Perry in 1936.

Murray broke the Spaniard five times, served 18 aces and lost serve only once. Murray had 49 winners, compared to 20 for Ferrero, a former No. 1 and only third wild card to reach the Wimbledon quarters.

It was a dominant performance by Murray, the first Briton to reach the semi-finals since Tim Henman did it for the fourth time in 2002.

Karlovic served 23 aces to raise his tournament total to 160, but it was Federer who never faced a break point in this match. The second-ranked Swiss star won 74 of 85 points on serve and was taken to deuce only once, in the sixth game of the third set. Federer got out of that jam with a 129 mph (208 kph) service winner and a 128 mph (206 kph) ace.

The statistics told the story: Federer had 39 winners and only seven unforced errors, to 29 winners (almost all on serve) and 17 errors for Karlovic.

Federer grabbed the upper hand early when he broke Karlovic in the fourth game of the match with flashes of brilliance.

He got to break point with a reflex backhand return winner off a 130 mph (209 kph) serve and then ripped a forehand return winner off a 122 mph (196 kph) serve, pumping his fist and shouting, “Come on!”

It was the first time Karlovic had been broken during the tournament after winning 80 consecutive service games.

“He returned unbelievable few shots and I could not really react on it,” said Karlovic, who added that he was bothered by the sun in his eyes before putting on sunglasses for the rest of the match.

The first extended rally of the match — and one of only a handful during the entire contest — didn’t take place until the fourth game of the second set, a 15-stroke point that ended with a Federer forehand winner 35 minutes into the match.

The second set turned Federer’s way when he broke Karlovic in the 11th game with four straight winners: an overhead, a forehand passing shot down the line, a reflex backhand return off a 126 mph (203 kph) serve and a passing shot that glanced off Karlovic’s racket frame.

The third set ended with the 13th tie-breaker the two men have played against each other in 25 sets of tennis. Karlovic’s limitations were exposed as he made several glaring errors, missing badly on what should have been easy putaways. Federer finished him off with an inside-out forehand winner on the first match point.

The 24th-seeded Haas saved three straight set points against Djokovic after going down 6-3 in the second-set tiebreaker. He broke in the fourth game of the fourth set and sealed the win when Djokovic netted a forehand return on the first match point.

The result wasn’t a complete surprise: Haas beat Djokovic in the grass court final at Halle last month. (AP)