Federer dropped a set for the first time this year at the All England Club, but still beat number twenty Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

"OK, a set is lost, but a match isn't lost," Federer said.

The man he beat in last year's final, Rafael Nadal, was back to his best, playing for the fifth consecutive day and reaching the semifinals by beating Tomas Berdych 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-2.

Federer was broken in the first set Thursday, when he and Ferrero played for 37 minutes before play was suspended by rain at deuce at 5-5. The 10-time Grand Slam champion won the opening two points on serve Friday, and then easily won the tiebreaker after Ferrero held.

On match point with Ferrero serving, Federer flicked a cross-court forehand that Ferrero couldn't reach.

Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion and a former number one, broke Federer to go up 5-3 in the second set and then served it out, but that was the end of the Spaniard's influence on the match.

From 1-1 in third set, Federer won 20 of next 24 points to take set.

Before his brief spell on court Thursday, the top-ranked Federer had not played since beating Marat Safin last Friday in the third round. His fourth-round opponent, Tommy Haas, withdrew with an injury, giving Federer almost a week off.

"It was hard for me. I had many days off," Federer said. "I'm just really happy I came through it and I'm back in the rhythm now."

Federer, who stretched his grass-court winning streak to 52, is trying to win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, something only Bjorn Borg has done in the past 100 years.

Nadal was broken once early in the first set, but didn't faced any more serious challenges. He broke the Czech in the opening games of the second and third sets.

Nadal had his first match point on Berdych's serve at 5-1 in the third set, but the Czech erased it with an ace. Nadal wasted another in the next game, but won when Berdych sent a forehand into the net.

"I had to concentrate with the movement because the ball was very difficult to touch," Nadal said. "Today was very tough with the wind, but anyway I played very good."

The second-seeded Spaniard was stretched to five sets in the previous two rounds, with the former being played over a span of three days at the All England Club. If he wins Saturday's semifinal against Novak Djokovic, who overcame the challenge of Marcos Baghdatis in a five-set thriller, then Sunday's final would mark Nadal's seventh consecutive day on court.

"Two very, very tough games, tough matches against (Robin) Soderling and (Mikhail) Youzhny," Nadal said. "The most important thing is the victory."