Federer vs Djokovic...loading

Melbourne, January 28

Swiss great Roger Federer said “I believe in miracles” after he saved seven match points in a five-set nail-biter against 100th-ranked Tennys Sandgren to go into an Australian Open semifinals with Novak Djokovic today.

The six-time champion, struggling physically, saved three match points at 4-5 in the fourth set and four more in the tie-breaker to scrape through 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6(10) 6-3.

Federer, 38, now goes into an unmissable encounter with Djokovic, who blunted Milos Raonic’s razor serve to win 6-4 6-3 7-6(7) and move two wins from an eighth Melbourne title.

Djokovic, despite trouble with his contact lenses, ended Raonic’s run of 63 straight games in the tournament without a break of serve and moves smoothly into the semis for the loss of just one set so far.

He paid tribute to the great escape by Federer, ahead of a semifinal that reprises his epic win over the Swiss in last year’s Wimbledon decider. “What he did today was really amazing, to come back and save seven match points at his age,” Djokovic said. “He’s still playing such a great tennis and proving that he deserves to be up there. He’s a great fighter. Obviously I have lots of respect for him.”

Federer’s match was incident-packed and he received a rare warning for an audible obscenity before going off-court for treatment on a groin injury. He first confronted the line judge before getting involved in an argument with Serbian chair umpire Marijana Veljovic. Federer said he found the warning “bit tough” but accepted it. Still hampered by the injury, he somehow forced a fifth set and began to regain control against the big-serving American.

“I believe in miracles,” Federer said, revealing that he thought his groin strain had ended his chances. “There could be rain, there could be all kinds of stuff. (I thought) just let him finish me off in style, and he didn’t do that. I’m incredibly lucky tonight, today — I don’t even know what time it is.”

Sandgren, achingly close to becoming the lowest-ranked player to beat Federer at the Australian Open, can count himself unlucky especially after a ball girl accidentally collided with him during the pivotal tiebreaker, which he lost.

Federer has made heavy weather of reaching his 46th Major semifinals. He was two points from defeat to John Millman in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the third round, and dropped a set against 67th-ranked Marton Fucsovics in Round 4. “I don’t know if you can call it an injury. It’s just pain and problems. I need to figure it out now,” he said.

“But as it’s not like in 18 hours, like you got a third round to play, semifinals, you have an extra day, adrenaline, there’s a lot of things. Two good nights of sleep, doctors, physios. Hopefully we’ll find out that it’s actually nothing bad, that it was just the groin that went tight from playing a lot.” — Agencies

Paes, Ostapenko fall in Round 2

Melbourne: Veteran Leander Paes’ last Australian Open outing came to an end after he and partner Jelena Ostapenko were knocked out of the mixed doubles competition, going down in straight-sets to Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands here today. The 46-year-old Paes and Lativia’s Ostapenko lost 6-2 7-5 in the second round. Rohan Bopanna is the only Indian left in the fray now. The 39-year-old and Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok will take on fifth seed Nikola Mektic and Barbora Krejcikova in the mixes doubles quarterfinals tomorrow. PTI

Day 9: Highlights

Barty roars but wants a quiet life

As world No. 1 at her home Grand Slam, Ashleigh Barty felt awkward about the hype surrounding her even before the Australian Open had started. Now, having reached her maiden semifinals at Melbourne Park with a 7-6(6) 6-2 victory over Petra Kvitova today, the down-to-earth 23-year-old has almost nowhere to hide. Australia’s hopes of ending a 42-year wait for a homegrown champion will follow Barty into her next clash against American 14th seed Sofia Kenin on Thursday. As thrilling as the ride has been, Barty said she could do without all the fuss. “No, I’d prefer to just be sitting at home just living my quiet little life,” the plainspoken Queenslander said.

From Tunisa, with Love

Following her straight-sets quarterfinals defeat by American Sofia Kenin, Ons Jabeur reflected on the impact her Melbourne run has had back home in Tunisia. “My phone is still going crazy right now. I actually talked to the president of Tunisia. He called me, wished me good luck. That was really nice of him,” Jabeur, the first Arab woman to reach the last-8 of a Grand Slam, said. In the match, Kenin fired 34 winners to notch up a solid 6-4 6-4 victory.