WIMBLEDON, England — Basking in the crowd's roar, the oldest Wimbledon men's semifinalist since Jimmy Connors stretched out his arms and wrapped them around himself, sharing a hug with the stadium as he embraced the moment.

Jonas Bjorkman found it hard to believe.

"Obviously, I didn't think this was going to happen at this stage of my career," the 34-year-old Swede said. "I was just so excited after I won match point. I realized what I've achieved, something that I never thought I would do again."

Bjorkman advanced by beating No. 14-seeded Radek Stepanek 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, and he's not Wimbledon's only improbable semifinalist. Also playing Friday will be Marcos Baghdatis, who won a tour-level match on grass for the first time only last month and beat 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Wednesday.

And then there's three-time defending champion Roger Federer, who reached his ninth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal by defeating Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Ancic upset Federer in the first round in 2002. Federer has since won an Open-era record 46 consecutive matches on grass, including 26 in a row at Wimbledon.

Federer's latest lawn-court gem ranked with his best. He'll next face the unseeded Bjorkman.

"If I keep up this sort of performance, I don't see myself losing," Federer said. "But it's the Wimbledon semifinals, and I don't want to underestimate anybody."

Bjorkman has been easy to overlook. His record for the year was 2-10 less than three weeks ago, and he arrived at the All England Club ranked 59th.

"You could ask me two weeks ago, and I would have been happy just to come through the first round," he said. "Now I'm sitting here going to play semis."

Baghdatis is only beginning to blossom, and he hit 53 winners and converted all seven of his break-point chances to beat Hewitt. The lone Cypriot to play in a major event, Baghdatis achieved a career breakthrough by finishing runner-up to Federer at the Australian Open, and he has soared from 56th to 16th in the rankings this year.

"It's amazing," Baghdatis said. "It's just unbelievable emotions."