Roger Federer beats Milos Raonic to set up Wimbledon final against Djokovic

   * Roger Federer eased through to his ninth Wimbledon final
   * Read Kevin Mitchell's match report from Wimbledon

we see a Canadian in the men's final for the first time ever as well? Well, it would be a shock. Roger Federer has been there, done it, and bought so many T-shirts he could open a stall at Camden Market. Milos Raonic's rise has been rapid over the past 12 months, but this is his first ever grand slam semi-final. It's Federer's 35th.

And their head-to-head record doesn't offer a great deal of hope to the younger man (though it does offer some). Their first meeting in 2012 on the hard courts of Indian Wells saw Raonic take the first set before losing. And they met twice more that year – on clay in the Madrid Masters and on grass at Halle – with the then 21-year-old Canadian again winning the first set on both occasions before fading. The pattern ended on their fourth meeting, with Federer cruising through in straight sets in the last 16 of the 2013 Australian Open.

So what hope for Raonic? Well, this year Federer has been beaten by Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka (of course) but also Lleyton Hewitt, Kei Nishikori, Jeremy Chardy and Ernests Gulbis. In his last 17 grand slam tournaments he's reached just two finals, winning only one. And while even that record might be the envy of 99.9% of those on the tour, it's a far cry from his domination of 2004 to 2009.

What else? Raonic has a rocket-launcher serve and confidence oozing from every pore. His career trajectory has all been one-way: a solid top 50 player in 2011, a solid top 30 player in 2012, a solid top 20 player in 2013 and a solid top 10 player since April of this year. He dealt calmly with the hoopla of facing Nadal's conqueror Nick Kyrgios in the quarter-finals and has all the tools to be a genuine title contender on grass.

But Federer is, well, Federer. And Wimbledon is Wimbledon. In 15 trips to the All England Club he has never – never – been beaten at this stage.

The winner plays Novak Djokovic, who survived a minor scare against Grigor Dimitrov in the other semi, in the final.