INQUIRER Sports

LONDON - Roger Federer admitted that shattering records is driving him forward in his pursuit of tennis history.

The majestic Swiss reached his seventh straight Wimbledon final with a 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-3 win over Germany's Tommy Haas to reach a record 20th Grand Slam final.

Victory on Sunday against either Andy Murray or Andy Roddick will give him a 15th Grand Slam title, taking him past great friend Pete Sampras's mark of 14 which he equalled with his first French Open title last month.

"I'm very proud of all the records I've achieved, because I never thought I would be that successful as a kid," said Federer, one of only six men to complete a career Grand Slam of all four majors.

"I would have been happy winning a couple tournaments and maybe collecting Wimbledon, that would have been achieving the dream scenario.

"But not really all those records. It's quite staggering now having reached my sixth straight Grand Slam final as well.

"It's quite amazing to be back in the Wimbledon final already because it seems like now all of a sudden everything happened very quickly."

Twelve months ago, Federer lost his five-year grip on the Wimbledon title when he lost a thrilling five-set final to Rafael Nadal.

But the Spaniard is an injured absentee this year and that, combined with his breakthrough Roland Garros victory, has made the Swiss superstar even more confident about his chances.

That victory in Paris, after so much heartbreak, has also made him more relaxed about his bid for history on Sunday.

"When I won the fifth straight Wimbledon and equalled Bjorn Borg's record, for some reason that meant the world to me," said the world number two.

"I was like in a bubble for two weeks, just trying to achieve it.

"So this time around I think I'm much more relaxed. Maybe it's also because of Paris.

"But I really think that experience of trying to go for my fifth Wimbledon was a really big one. That's why I might be actually a bit more relaxed this year."

Haas, whose career has been plagued by injuries and misfortune, said he was happy with his Wimbledon performance and with his grasscourt season which saw him clinch the Halle tournament.

"I served extremely well. So did my opponent today. I only got broken there at 5-6 in the second set for the first time after having a long, long game back and forth.

"Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way I played. Just sometimes the little tiny points that could have made a little difference, maybe I just came up short, making an easy unforced error for my liking."