Just a match away from his fourth Wimbledon final, Goran Ivanisevic may thank the charitable view taken by the championship organisers for allowing him walk through the gates this year.

It has never been Ivanisevic's tradition to undertake anything in a conventional fashion and true to form that's what he has done. Beating the fourth seed Marat Safin yesterday in four sets was a further step in the quicki-divorce of Goran the crazy Croat and Ivanisevic the possible Wimbledon champion.

In victory Ivanisevic becomes the first wildcard to reach the men's singles semi-finals at Wimbledon. Pat Cash was the only previous wildcard to reach the quarterfinals in 1986 before losing to Henri Leconte in four sets.

But even the bombastic Cash's achievement pales in comparison to the 125 ranked Ivansevic, whose career was fading to oblivion just four weeks ago.

He arrived at Wimbledon terrified of going under the knife for a shoulder operation, deciding instead to tough out the championships with a cocktail of anti-infamatory pills and pain killers.

With that humiliation was still a possibility. Instead he came through against Carlos Moya to meet the new American sensation Andy Roddick. Roddick was hammered with 42 aces as the reincarnation continued before Greg Rusedski then buckled under home expectations in straight sets.

But Safin was a different prospect. The last remaining Russian had reason to believe he could win having already won a Grand Slam, the 2000 US Open, an achievement Ivanisevic has been unable to accomplish. But again the serves were too big, his ace count rising to 150 in five matches.

"I expected to have more chances on his serve. He was too good today. I couldn't do anything special to beat him," said Safin.

Two of the four sets hinged on tie-breaks and both swung strongly with Ivanisevic to tip the match his way.

"I didn't lose them. I just had no chance," said a lugubrious Safin. "If you don't make your serve, make your two points, then is coming (sic) two aces. How can you play against the guy ?" Ivanisevic took the first set tiebreak 7-3 before adding a tight 7-5 second set in a match of big serves and frequent back court exchanges.

A service break in the third set, allowing Safin take a 5-2 lead, was the first time Ivanisevic's was broken in the tournament and critically allowed the 21 year old gain a foothold.

Again the relentless pressure from flawless big deliveries brought the fourth set to another tiebreak, Ivanisevic winning an unqualled nine out of every ten points on his first serve and five out of ten on his second.

"I was thinking (of quitting). But finally I'm playing for myself which is strange for me. I never played for myself in my life. I always play for somebody.

"When I started my career my sister was very sick (cancer) so I play for her because we didn't have any money. Then the war came and I have motivation to play for my country (Croatia) for the people who are fighting. Then I say, 'man after 12 years I think you deserve to play for yourself a little bit.' Now it's paying off," said Ivanisevic.

He now meets Tim Henman, who beat the conquerer of Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, in four sets 7-5, 7-6 , 2-6, 7-6. It was a queasy match for Henman, who was forced to save his serve 12 times in the match and came back from deep trouble twice in tiebreaks in the second and fourth sets.

Henman finally dispelled accusations that he lacks the bottle and the concentration under pressure to come through to Grand Slam finals.

The match against Ivanisevic will be his third Wimbledon semi-final, having been beaten twice before by Sampras. But his hopes are clearly to become the first Briton since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the championship.

The fourth set tiebreak particularly illustrated Henman's resilience. Federer raced to a 6-3 lead before allowing Henman climb back in to win it 8-6, a simple Federer volley landing inches long.

"On big points he can get tight," said Ivanisevic. Pat Rafter advanced to meet Andre Agassi in tomorrow's semi-final with startling ease beating Sweden's Thomas Enquist, who had terrible problems with a swirling breeze. A 6-1 first set propelled Rafter to a second 6-3 set and a third 7-6 in under two hours in a surprisingly gentle romp.

Agassi, dropping his first set to Nicolas Escude, didn't struggle as much as took his time to adjust to the match tempo. He now meets Rafter at the same point for the third year running.

Losing the first set on a tiebreak the number two seed rattled through the suceeding four sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, earning 19 service break points and winning six of them. It sets up two semi-finals with quite a veteran profile, Agassi 31, Ivanisevic 30, Rafter 28 and Henman the baby at 26.