Roger Federer has stormed into the Australian Open semi-finals with a 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-4 win over the in-form Thomas Berdych. The Swiss maestro has never lost in an Australian Open quarter-final and continued this amazing streak by securing a 15th semi-final appearance at the first Grand Slam of the year.
Federer started slowly and struggled to find his range early on. Berdych broke the Swiss in his first service game and looked solid on serve taking a 5-2 lead over the former champion. However, Federer showed his class as he raced back, saving multiple set points, to level the match up and send the first set to a tiebreak. The 36-year-old was too strong for the Czech winning the tiebreak 7-1 to capture the opening set.
Both players looked confident on serve in the initial stages of the second set. But leading 4-3, Federer put his foot down and produced some incredible tennis to break the Berdych serve. The World No. 2 was calm as he held serve to take the second set 6-3.
Federer had only lost twice in his career when leading 2 sets to 0 and he looked unlikely to blow this lead. The 36-year-old Swiss had Berdych in the palm of his hand, making the big Czech increasingly uncomfortable. Federer was able to once again break the big serve of Berdych and move to a 4-2 lead in the third set. The 19-time Grand Slam champion closed the match out in confident fashion with a 6-4 score line in the final set.
Federer now has a huge chance to reach yet another Grand Slam final when he takes on Hyeon Chung of South Korea in the Australian Open semi-final. Chung moved past Tennys Sandgren earlier today in a straight sets victory. With this win Chung became the first South Korean player in history to reach a Grand Slam semi-final.
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