And so it came to pass, as all the soothsayers foretold a fortnight ago: for the third time running, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet in the men’s final at Wimbledon on Sunday.

They got through on Friday just about as easily as everyone predicted, though the enigmatic Russian Marat Safin gave Federer even less of a fight than expected. Safin had said in advance he had no chance of winning, which was either a very cunning plan or a sign of utter defeatism. He was certainly defeated: 6-3 7-6 6-4.