Roger Federer: 'Rain delays helped me during quarter-final win'

Roger Federer has claimed that he used the rain delays to his advantage during his Wimbledon quarter-final win over Gilles Simon.

The seven-time champion booked his place in the last four of the tournament on Wednesday thanks to a straight-sets triumph over the French 12th seed.

Play was stopped due to bad weather during the first and second sets, but Federer believes that the breaks ultimately benefited him rather than stopping his rhythm.

"The stop and goes with the weather are tough but I think I used them to my advantage," he told BBC Sport. "The breaks helped rather than hindered me. Simon was a quality return player and the game I got broken he was too good."

Federer has now reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon on 10 separate occasions.