Not many would have predicted a semi-final encounter between Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey at the start of this year's Wimbledon, given the recent form of the Big Four this season.
Yet, here we are on the penultimate day of action of the Men's singles category, with top seeds Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal ousted from the competition. 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer is the only player among the top-five seeds to have survived a series of upsets in London over the last few days.
As it stands, Federer will play 11th seed Tomas Berdych and seventh seed Cilic will play 23rd seed Querrey in the semi-final matches on Friday, July 14.
Querrey has reached the semi-final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 42 attempts. Notably, the 29-year-old United States star came close to a last-four berth last year when he stunned Novak Djokovic at SW19 in the quarter-final before losing to Milos Raonic in the subsequent encounter.
However, Querrey had an ordinary start to the 2017 season, facing early exits in Brisbane, Melbourne and Memphis. However, the world number 27 stunned in-form Nadal to win Mexico Open earlier this year.
Despite a bad run on clay, Querrey found form on grass as he reached the quarter-final at Queen's. In the ongoing competition, he has fought valiantly to overcome the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (R16), Kevin Anderson (R16) and Murray -- all in five-set encounters.
Having not beaten Cilic in four meetings in the past, the big-serving American will have to step up if he needs to make it to the Grand Slam final for the first time in his career. However, a lot will depend on how he manages to come up with a fight after having played 22 sets until this point of the tournament.
On the other hand, Cilic had to overcome a stern test against Nadal-slayer Gilles Muller in his quarter-final outing on Wednesday. The Croat came back from behind after losing the first set to win the match 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.
Cilic seems to the most consistent player on grass this season, having reached the semi-final at Hertogenbosch and secured a runner-up position at the Queen's last month. The 2014 US Open champion will be feeling confident as he has spent lesser time on court in the tournament than his opponent, against whom he has a perfect head-to-head record.
