Federer leads rain-hit semi

London:

Wimbledon men's semi-finals match between defending champion Roger Federer and Sebastien Grosjean of France had to be halted prematurely due to rain on Friday. Federer held a commanding 6-2, 6-3, 4-3 lead over Grosjean when the weather forced a third stoppage to match. Good form Number ten seed Grosjean had won two of his three previous meetings with Federer, but those matches were all played in 2001 when the Swiss was still approaching his best form. However, Federer appears to have reached that level now. The reigning champion gained a break on his French opponents' serve in the opening game and led 3-2 before rain stopped play. After one failed resumption, the match continued following a near five-hour delay. Repeated interruption Top seed Federer wasted no time in re-asserting his dominance over Grosjean and forced a second break before serving out the set 6-2. Federer's powerful forehand was at its destructive best and the 22-year-old broke twice in the second set, which he would take 6-3. The Swiss was forced to dig deep to stay on level terms in the third before poor weather halted proceedings once again. Federer lead 4-3 on serve when the rain returned and, for a third time, the semi-finalists left the court. Forty minutes later, at 18:55GMT local time, it was announced that play had ended for the night and the match would be concluded today. Roddick leads The day's second semi-final between Andy Roddick and the promising Mario Ancic was hastily moved to number one court as organisers looked to avoid an overrun into Saturday. There was little to split the American and Croatian in the first set, but number two seed Roddick would gain the upper hand with a break in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead. He may have been struggling for accuracy with his first serve, but Roddick would still manage to close out the first set 6-4. The 20-year-old Ancic surrendered another break in the fifth game of the second set and it was hard to see how he could get back into the match with Roddick finally profiting on his powerful first serve. Ancic didn't look out of his depth though and the Croat was close to breaking back when play was halted because of the rain. The match will continue today with Roddick leading 6-4, 4-3, but last year's beaten semi-finalist will have to defend a break point when play resumes. (AP)