rogerfederer.com - Roger through to the semis

Roger through to the semis

Roger won his 26th Grand Slam match in a row, beating No. 12-seeded Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in Paris this afternoon.

This now brings Roger to his eighth consecutive semi-final at a major event, two shy of Ivan Lendl’s Open era record. “To make it to the semis was my first objective in Paris,” Roger said, anticipating a possible showdown Sunday against defending champion Rafael Nadal. “I’m much more relaxed now. There was enormous pressure at the start of the tournament, with everybody speaking about a final against Nadal, but first you have to win the matches before you get there.”

Roger's opponent on Friday will be No. 3-seeded David Nalbandian, who beat No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

With his 26th consecutive Grand Slam victory Roger has already overtaken Americans Pete Sampras as well as Jimmy Connors. The only one to be more succesful during the Open Era was Rod Laver, who won 29 matches between the Australian Open 1969 and Wimbledon 1970.