WIMBLEDON, England - Basking in the crowd's roar, the oldestWimbledon men's semifinalist since Jimmy Connors stretched out hisarms and wrapped them around himself, sharing a hug with the stadiumas he embraced the moment.
Jonas Bjorkman found it hard to believe.
"Obviously, I didn't think this was going to happen at this stageof my career," the 34-year-old Swede said. "I was just so excitedafter I won match point. I realized what I've achieved, somethingthat I never thought I would do again."
Bjorkman advanced by beating No. 14-seeded Radek Stepanek 7-6 (3),4-6, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, and he's not Wimbledon's only improbablesemifinalist.
Also playing Friday will be Marcos Baghdatis, who won a tour-level match on grass for the first time only last month and beat 2002champion Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Wednesday.
And then there's three-time defending champion Roger Federer, whoreached his ninth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal by beating MarioAncic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Ancic upset Federer in the first round in 2002. Federer has sincewon an Open-era record 46 consecutive matches on grass, including 26in a row at Wimbledon.
Federer's latest lawn-court gem ranked with his best. He'll nextface the unseeded Bjorkman.
"If I keep up this sort of performance, I don't see myselflosing," Federer said. "But it's the Wimbledon semifinals, and Idon't want to underestimate anybody."
Bjorkman has been easy to overlook. His record for the year was 2-10 less than three weeks ago, and he arrived at the All England Clubranked 59th.
"You could ask me two weeks ago, and I would have been happy justto come through the first round," he said. "Now I'm sitting heregoing to play semis. It's just almost like a big shock. I've beentrying to enjoy every single moment out there, because I know I'm nothaving too many Wimbledons left in me."
Baghdatis is only beginning to blossom, and he hit 53 winners andconverted all seven of his break-point chances to beat Hewitt. Thelone Cypriot to play in a major event, Baghdatis achieved a careerbreakthrough by finishing runner-up to Federer at the AustralianOpen, and he has soared from 56th to 16th in the rankings this year.
His opponent Friday will be either French Open champion RafaelNadal or No. 22 Jarkko Nieminen. Their quarterfinal was postponeduntil Thursday after Bjorkman's victory over Stepanek took 61/2hours, including two rain delays totaling 21/2 hours.
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