London: Roger Federer became the first man to reach eight Wimbledon singles finals, knocking out defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Centre Court on Friday.

The third seed Federer progressed to his 24th Grand Slam final with the win over tournament favourite Djokovic, BBC reported.

It took Federer two hours and 19 minutes to end Djokovic's reign.

The second semifinal is being played between Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"Obviously, I'm ecstatic, I'm so happy," said Federer, who will equal William Renshaw and Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon crowns should he win Sunday.

"I played a great match. It has been a tough tournament for me. I was able to step it up and get a bit lucky maybe. I thought Novak played well too, the first two sets went really quickly and the third was key to the match," Federer said.

It will be Federer's first Grand Slam final since last year's French Open and his first at Wimbledon since he won his sixth title in 2009.

Djokovic, attempting to reach a fifth consecutive Grand Slam final, had beaten the 16-time Grand Slam champion in four of their previous five Grand Slam semi-finals. (IANS)