Ya gotta love Safin. He makes for great theater. It reminds me of something an announcer said once about Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. “Ditka is worth the price of admission.” Well so is the Russian bear. This guy is a powder keg. He is just one mishit away from launching something somewhere. And being someone that has a junior player at home with some of the same issues, I can really feel for the guy.

At the same time Safin is such an adept player. From a few years ago where he said he hated playing on grass to now making it to the semi-finals on the biggest stage in the game. But then he had to face The Dominator. Roger Federer is just not like anyone else today on this fast green surface. His serve this tournament has been impeccable. He seems to hit an ace, a service winner or just sets himself up for a kill shot with nearly every first serve.

This is what was the difference in the match. Due to his experience and ability on grass Federer was just too hard to break for Safin. Even with Safin’s powerful serve Federer was there to return many of them and win the all important break points.

Federer who moves into the finals with a 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 win has shown his dominance once again. Through much of the tournament the media has really overlooked the five time Wimbledon champion. Most of the attention has been placed on the World No. 2, Rafael Nadal. And as Bjorn Borg looks on he is paying close attention and wondering which record will be broken first. Federer and Borg are the only two players in the open era with five consecutive Wimbledon titles. Borg and Nadal are the only two players to win four consecutive Roland Garros titles in the open era. So for Bjorn this must be a bit unsettling.

In Nadal’s semi-final everyone expected a whitewash and through the first set it seemed just that way. Schuettler, ranked 94 in the world, was just out-classed, he even had a hard time picking up the Spaniard’s serve. The left-handed Spaniard pushed the German all around the court. The difference between 32 and 22 was quite evident. But Schuettler, who is a slow starter, was just that.

The second set was an entirely different story. It was now Nadal who looked out of place. The underdog broke Nadal early and then at 3-2 hit four winners against Nadal to go up 4-2. But serving for the set at 5-4 was a bit too much to handle for Schuettler and the match was even at 5-5. Later on in the tie-breaker it took only one mini-break and the Roland Garros champ had a 2-0 lead. And some 30 plus minutes later a Nadal/Federer rematch was scheduled.

So will Nadal beat Federer finally on grass. Not if he plays like he did today. Schuettler brought out some inherent weaknesses in Nadal’s grass court game. Unless Nadal was sandbagging and playing only well enough to win, which I don’t think was the case, he is going to have to raise his level substantially to hoist the coveted Wimbledon winner’s trophy.

There were a few more highly anticipated matches going on around SW19 as well today.

The Williams duo was trying to make their way back into the Ladie’s doubles finals today. They took on the only unseeded team left in the draw. While it was a competitive match most of the way the Williams were just too strong for Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua. Some say when you put up two very good singles players against a good doubles team the singles players can win. And today that adage came true when Venus and Serena won 6-3, 6-3.

The Williams also received a reprieve today when Lisa Raymond (another American left in the draw) and Samantha Stosur upset the world’s No. 1 doubles team of Liezel Huber (another American via South Africa) and Cara Black 6-3, 6-3. At this point whether the Williams win or lose on Sunday they have definitely reestablished their dominance in the game.

And the British teen that has everyone talking advanced to the girls finals after taking apart her opponent today. Laura Robson, who came from behind in the second set, sent the Slovakian teen Romana Tabakova home 6-2, 7-5. While it looked like Tabakova was going to make a come back it seemed that after Robson took an injury time-out Tabakova could not regain her momentum and Robson took hold of the match from that point on.

The left-handed Brit will take on Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thaliand in the finals. This will be a tall order for the youngster, but it is not impossible. While Lertcheekakarn is a good player she has not had an easy time through the draw. Robson’s backhand will match up well against the Thai’s forehand which could be the difference in this match.