Four-time defending champion Federer reached his ninth consecutive major final today, beating Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 on the grass courts of the All England Club.

"It has become sort of a routine, but I'm still so excited to be back in the final," Federer said.

Nadal, who lost to Federer in last year's final, set up a rematch when No. 4 Novak Djokovic withdrew while trailing 3-6, 6-1, 4-1.

"I'm going to have a very difficult match tomorrow, but I'm going to try my best," said Nadal, a three-time French Open champion.

The win was Federer's 53rd straight on grass. He finished with 20 aces, including one on a second serve in the final game of the match.

Gasquet matched Federer for most of the first set, but the top-ranked Swiss player saved all three break points he faced, including two at 5-5. Federer saved the first with an ace and the next with a forehand winner before winning the next two points. Including those four points, Federer won 44 of the final 54 points on his serve.

With Gasquet serving at 6-5, the Frenchman was only two points away from forcing a first-set tiebreaker, but Federer won four straight points to take the set.

"The first set was crucial," Federer said. "He should have at least got to the tiebreaker. I came out somehow and played really well for 10 minutes and was up a set and a break, and that was pretty much it after that."

In the second set, Federer held in the first game and then broke again, eventually taking a 3-0 lead.

After the set ended, the 12th-seeded Gasquet called for a trainer to look at his left ankle. His ferocious backhands and whipping cross-court forehands again won him points, but Federer was too good, breaking Gasquet to lead 4-3 in the final set.

The 25-year-old Federer, who is the oldest of the four men's semifinalists, is trying to win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, something only Bjorn Borg has done in the past 100 years. Borg, who won his titles from 1976-80, watched the match from the stands, wearing a purple-and-green tie — the colors of the All England Club.

Gasquet came back from a two-set deficit to beat Andy Roddick yesterday in the quarterfinals. Before facing Federer, the Frenchman acknowledged he was tired.

Federer didn't look tired. The 10-time Grand Slam champion dropped his first set of the tournament in yesterday's quarterfinals, but hadn't played a full match in one day since beating Marat Safin in the third round last Friday.

Nadal pressured Djokovic early, earning three break points in the first game but failing to convert. Djokovic then broke Nadal in the second game, and only conceded three more points on his serve for the rest of the set.

"I start the match playing bad," Nadal said. "But I was practicing before the warmup bad, too."

The second set started with Nadal holding and then breaking Djokovic's serve. After Nadal evened the match at one set apiece, Djokovic called for a trainer. He got the little toe on his left foot bandaged.

"In the first game of second set, second game, I have the break," Nadal said. "That's decisive in the match ... because I get confidence there."

In the third set, Djokovic continued to hobble but saved two break points in the opening game.

Then, serving at 1-1, 30-30, he put a forehand wide and dropped to the grass, rocking on the balls of his feet. His next shot was a forehand into the net.

Nadal held easily to lead 3-1 and forced another two break points in the fifth game. Djokovic saved one but hit a forehand into the net on the second. The trainer immediately returned and Djokovic soon decided to retire.

Djokovic also withdrew against Nadal in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

Both players have spent a lot of time on court over the past few days because of the massive backlog created by persistent rain throughout the tournament.