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Wimbledon Live Blog: Day Eleven

It's semi-finals day at Wimbledon and the enigmatic Marat Safin takes on the King of Wimbledon Roger Federer. That is followed by veteran Schuettler facing the mammoth task of a showdown against Rafael Nadal. Sean Calvert is with us today to keep us updated on the developments.

17.25: No mistake this time on his own serve and the final we all thought would happen is on!!

Schuettler played his part and has had a fine tournament, but Nadal, even though not at his best today, made it through comfortably in the end.

18 unforced errors in total from Nadal is a lot, particularly considering he hit just one in the first set, but everyone is entitled to a below par day every now and then.

Before we all get carried away with Federer v Nadal, it's the small matter of Venus v Serena tomorrow afternoon for the Ladies Singles and we'll be back with that on betting.betfair.com.

17.20: Rafa missed an absolute sitter of a put-away on his second match point at 5-3 on the Schuettler serve when he slammed the ball into the tape and in all he saved three match points in that game.

At least the German wild card has made Rafa serve it out. It's 5-4 Nadal, serving for a place in that final.

17.05: I think it's quite safe to say that it will be a Federer v Nadal final now and it looks set to be an absolute classic.

I'm not sure how it will pan out this year, but I'm leaning towards Nadal at the moment at [2.18].

I'll be doing the blog on Sunday for finals day. Have I got this one right? Email me at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

Back to today and it's Schuettler serving at 2-4 in the third.

16.55: That should be that now, as Nadal breaks the Schuettler serve and quite probably any resistance the German had left.

Nadal is 2-1 up and serving, although he does have a painful-looking scrape on his knee. He's slipped over quite a few times in this match and been forced to change his footwear. It doesn't look too bad, so fear not if you've backed Nadal for the tournament.

Current outrights are [1.84] Federer and [2.18] Nadal.

16.45: Nadal holds on in the breaker and takes it quite comfortably in the end and it's difficult to see a way back for Schuettler now. He's [75.0] to make the comeback of all comebacks.

He's started with a love service game in the third set though.

16.35: Both players hold easily and we're into a breaker, which is a must-win for Schuettler.

Rafa starts it with an ace and quickly gains the mini-break.

16.30: He couldn't and a few unforced errors crept back into the German's game there.

Has he missed his golden chance to get back into this match?

Nadal goes back to [1.02] for the match and [1.33] for a straight sets win.

16.25: Schuettler's managed to keep it going and he will come out and serve for the set at 5-4 in a few seconds time.

He's [1.6] to take the set against Nadal's [2.7]. Can he hold?

16.15: Nadal's level has dropped off a bit in this second set, while Schuettler has started to find some of his best tennis.

Are the [1.25] punters who backed a straight sets win for Nadal beginning to feel the odd droplet of sweat on their brow as they watch the German go 4-2 up. It's evens now!

16.05: Schuettler holds and it's three in a row now for the German! Nadal is backable again now at [1.02] if you fancy a short priced punt.

There's been over £6.5 million matched on this event, with £6.45 million of it on Nadal. Could be painful if the comeback continues.

It's 3-1 Schuettler.

16.00: Becker's getting excited in the box and the crowd are on their feet!! What can have caused this sudden outpouring of emotion??

None other than Nadal having his serve broken by Schuettler!! He's 2-1 up in the second set. Remarkable..

15.55: This should be all over very quickly.

Nadal eased through the first set 6-1 and he's playing at much too high a level for the German to even be considered for a comeback.

Schuettler's making far too many unforced errors and is 30-11 behind on total points won. He's getting angry now and Becker is translating the rants for us. Very nice of him.

It's 1-1 in the second set.

15.40: Schuettler's won a game! He's managed to hold his third service of the match to go 1-4 and he's out to [100.0] for the match. Nadal is no offers.

This reminds me of playing my school friend Michael Fox down at my local grass court when we were kids. I loved to play even though I knew was going to get a right good hiding.. probably 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 or something like that.

I only ever took one set off him in all the years we played down there, but I still remember the shot that won the set. Crosscourt backhand pass it was.. brilliant!

Everyone knew a kid at school that was fantastic at all sports. Bloody annoying it was too. Email me your nemesis and why at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

Anyway, enough of my childhood reminiscences and back to the match. It's 5-1 Nadal now.

15.25: Right ok.. Schuettler loses the first game of the match on his own serve to 15 and Nadal holds to love.

There's three pounds I won't be seeing again!

15.20: The Beeb have got fellow German and cheerleader Boris Becker in the commentary box to extolle the virtues of Herr Schuettler. He's not doing a great job, as he's just said statistically speaking, Schuettler should have stayed in bed!

Glad I'm not a team-mate of yours Boris!

They're just about ready to go and it will be the German to serve first..

15.10: I can't get involved with Nadal at the current odds of [1.02] for the match and [1.25] for a straight sets success.

Schuettler looks relaxed and confident in his pre-match chat with Garry Richardson, so I'm going to lay Nadal at [1.03] and have a trade. Not going to lose much at those odds.

Come on Rainer.. good start please chap!

15.00: Another winning bet there and I could do with a top up of funds after my speculative wager on Janko Tipsarevic went west thanks to Rainer Schuettler.

At least the 32-year-old German paid me back by beating Clement yesterday. Can he possibly beat Nadal?? Seems very unlikely and you can get [40.0] if you fancy a massive upset.

Anyone on the German today? Tell me why at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

14.55: Federer takes it!! He just needed the one match point and finished it off with a lovely cross court backhand after Safin had found the net cord with his forehand.

Safin tried his best, but never looked like extending Fed, who goes into yet another Wimbledon Final, this time without dropping a set.

But Nadal could prove a much tougher proposition, assuming he gets past Schuettler.

Great performance from the world number one.

14.47: Safin breaks his first racquet after a forehand goes wide of it's target and Federer holds to 5-4 to make Marat serve to stay in the tournament.

He gets a code violation after giving the racquet another whack at the changeover.

14.45: This set is still being dominated by serve and it's 4-4 now.

There's been 26 aces and no doubles so far in this match, which tells you a lot about how it's going.

Fed is now [1.31] to win in straight sets.

14.35: Not content with contesting the Ladies Singles Final, the Williams sisters have just won through to the Ladies Doubles final, by beating Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellaqua in straight sets on Court One. Should we just give them their own court to play on and let them get on with it?

Safin saves a break point to hold at 2-2.

14.30: We have the first really purposeful scream of discontent from Safin as Federer takes another service game to love.

Henman describes Fed's play as 'effortless' and reminisces over his last defeat to Fed on the lawns of SW19 when he lost in straight sets.

14.25: Safin's body language does not look good and only a Federer lapse in concentration can change things just at the moment.

Safin plays a good opening service game though and takes it to love to level at 1-1 in the third set.

14.20: A delightful forehand winner up the line gives Federer four set points and he closes the set out with an ace to go two sets up and earn a quote of [1.18] to win 3-0 and [1.01] for the match as a whole.

It doesn't look like Safin can do a great deal about this. He played a very decent set, but never really looked like winning it.

14.18: Another unforced error from Safin and a hold from Fed sees the Swiss go 5-1 up at the changeover.

14.15: Three love service games in a row and we're into a breaker to decide the second set.

Safin dumps a forehand into the net to give Fed an early advantage and he goes 3-0 up very quickly.

14.10: Federer throws in another love service game and this set looks like it could be inching towards a breaker.

The Safin serve has been much better in this set, but will it be enough to pinch it from Federer's grasp?

14.05: Safin fends off a Federer break point with an ace and the Russian moves to 4-3.

Just thinking about the attention and expectation that young Laura Robson is likely to get now that she's in the Girls Singles Final.

The women's game in Britain has been suffering for a number of years without anyone to contend for the title really since the likes of Jo Durie.

Let's hope she's allowed to progress without too much pressure! It would be great to see a contender on the women's side again rather than hoping that a Brit can make it to Round Three every year!

13.55: Federer's most testing service game to date at 1-2 in the second set as Safin earns break points for the first time.

He's not five time champ for nothing though and Federer snuffs out the opportunities with clinical accuracy.

No broken racquets yet from Safin, but there have been a few Russian expletives and the odd scream of frustration.

It's 3-2 Safin on serve.

13.45: Fourteen-year-old Brit, Laura Robson, is into the Girls Singles Final after a straight sets win over Romana Tabakova of Slovakia.

By all accounts, Laura is the latest hope for the future for British tennis, so well done to her for reaching the final.

Back on Centre it's on serve in the second set with Safin looking better, but yet to threaten the Fed serve.

13.40: Some very impressive serving from Federer hands him the first set 6-3.

He hit three aces from the deuce court and finished it off with another unreturnable effort from the ad court.

Safin won the two points that were rallies in that game.. perhaps a sign that he's settling down a bit. We'll see.

13.30: A much better effort from Safin in his next service game as he wins it to love in impressive fashion.

He's unable to threaten the Swiss player's serve again though as Fed holds to 15 and moves to 5-2 in the first set.

It's dead level on the aces front 3-3 and Safin is [2.5] to out-ace the Fed today.

13.25: Safin gets on the scoreboard in his second service game - finishing with an ace, but Federer continues to cruise on serve and has lost just one point on it so far - and that was from a mishit backhand that flew wide!

He's in to [1.26] to win in straight sets now.

13.20: Great start from the champ and a pretty poor first few games from Safin means that Fed is 3-0 up after just eight minutes!

Far too many unforced errors coming from the racquet of Safin in the early stages of the match and he needs to improve quickly here.

13.15: Federer cruises through his first service game to love after Safin chose to receive and then a great forehand down the line gives the Swiss the first break of the match. 2-0 Federer and he's in to [1.04] already.

13.10: Great news! Tim Henman is back in the commentary box after somehow losing his voice over the last day or two by saying precisely nothing for a few hours at a time.

Fed looks relaxed and confident, although he is persisting with that cardigan. Safin by contrast looks a bit nervous on his Wimbledon semi final debut.

Let's see if the Russian can cause a massive upset.

13.00: Afternoon all and welcome to Men's Semi Finals Day at Wimbledon.

First up on Centre is Roger Federer v Marat Safin and I'm aiming to keep my unbeaten run going on the betting front by backing Fed to take this in straight sets at the admittedly short price of [1.59].

I can't see Safin having the consistency on grass to take a set from the reigning champ and after watching his quarter final, where Feliciano Lopez effectively handed the match to the Russian by choking big time, I don't see Safin playing at a level to worry Fed too much.

He still has all the talent in the world does Safin, but not today for me.

After that it's Nadal v Schuettler and surely the German, who made me a few quid yesterday (eventually) won't have the energy, shots or ability to worry the Spaniard.

Let me know if you agree or disagree by emailing in at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk