LONDON, July 7: An inspired Rafael Nadal beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-1 7-5 6-3 on Friday to set up a dream final against triple Wimbledon champion Roger Federer.

The Spanish second seed, who beat Federer in the French Open final last month, battered his Cypriot opponent to a standstill in front of an enthralled Centre Court crowd.

Baghdatis, 21, was overwhelmed in a 30-minute first set but the second produced a breathtaking battle as the pair contested sublime rallies.

Earlier, Federer stormed into his fourth consecutive final with a 6-2 6-0 6-2 thrashing of Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman.

The triple defending champion destroyed his 34-year-old unseeded opponent in a display of brutal brilliance before a beguiled Centre Court crowd.

It was the heaviest Wimbledon men's semi-final defeat in terms of games since the abolition of the challenge round in 1922 and, at 77 minutes, was the briefest semi-final on record since 1972.

Federer won 11 games in a row at one stage of the mismatch with an array of winners from all parts of the court.

The Swiss will face either Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal or Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in Sunday's final, when he attempts to become only the third man in the professional era to win four consecutive Wimbledon titles.

Federer has now won 47 matches in a row on grass and has yet to drop a set in this year's tournament.

The only other man to win Wimbledon without dropping a set since tennis turned professional in 1968 was Sweden's Bjorn Borg 30 years ago.

“I played a secure game plan in the beginning and then I really got on a roll and I played excellent tennis,” said Federer.

Doubles specialist Bjorkman was playing in only the second grand slam singles semi-final of his career and his first at Wimbledon.

Holding serve in the first game of the match was good as it got for the Swede, however.

Federer mesmerised him and the crowd after that and his ripped, dipping top-spun forehand was the Swiss's preferred shot of the day.

He took the first set in 27 minutes and began treating Bjorkman's attempted winners with contempt, sending them back harder than they came.

The gulf between the players was summed up in the fourth game of the second set when Bjorkman led 30-15 on Federer's serve.

The Swiss sent down three consecutive aces and Bjorkman's chance of a break had gone without him even laying his racket on the ball.

Two games later a cry of “How do you do it, Roger?” rang out from the stands when Federer hit another ridiculous forehand winner and he wrapped up the second set in only 23 minutes.

Bjorkman finally snapped the 11-game losing streak when he held to trail 2-1 in the third but Federer was now toying with his opponent and mercifully the end for the Swede was swift.

He netted a forehand to concede defeat before offering his congratulations to the champion, who is the first man in the professional era to have reached five consecutive grand slam singles finals.—Reuters