Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer in three sets and will now face the winner of the match between Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev in Sunday's final
Thursday 30 January 2020 17:22, UK
Defending champion Novak Djokovic strolled past Roger Federer with ruthless efficiency to reach his eighth Australian Open final on Thursday.
Once the Serbian eased through a first-set tie-break, he took total control of their 50th career meeting to win 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-3.
"It could have definitely gone a different way. He started really well and I was pretty nervous," said Djokovic during his on court interview.
"I want to say respect to Roger for coming out tonight, he wasn't at his best or even close to his best in terms of movement."
He will now head into his 26th Grand Slam final overall, where he will play for the 17th major title of his career.
Federer went into the match as a big underdog after his struggles in reaching the last four and with concerns over the groin problem he picked up in his sensational victory over Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday, but he appeared to have recovered well physically.
The first set was a seesaw battle of wits. There were three breaks of serve in the opening four games and after Djokovic made a shaky start, Federer looked to be on the cusp of clinching the set at 5-2 up. But the second seed pulled his socks up and rallied to win the next three games in a row to level up.
It was inevitably settled by a tie-break situation and defending champion Djokovic produced some sublime touches around the net to run away with it.
Federer took heart from beating the Serbian at the ATP Finals in November but he had not got the better of him in a best-of-five-sets match since Wimbledon 2012, and not on hard courts for more than a decade.
He headed straight off court for another medical timeout, this one apparently for treatment to his lower back, while Djokovic also consulted the doctor and took a pill.
When the 38-year-old Swiss returned he staved off two break points before holding to stem to flow, but it was his serve under pressure.
Djokovic, who has never lost a semi-final at Melbourne Park, turned the screw in the 10th game to earn a set point opportunity which he nailed with a stunning forehand cross-court flick, celebrating exuberantly as he moved to within one set of a record eighth Grand Slam final.
It was the 207th time in which Djokovic had led a Grand Slam match 2-0 and although no player had won from two sets down more than Federer (10 times) the six-time champion in Melbourne knew that he required another Houdini act to reach the final.
Federer had said after beating Sandgren that he believed in miracles, but his Melbourne luck had run out.
It seemed a case of when not if Djokovic would clinch victory, and he broke the Federer serve again to lead 4-2 before serving out for a convincing victory after two hours and 19 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Federer felt he went as far as he could in the tournament but branded the experience of playing the semi-final "horrible".
He said: "At the end of the day, I guess I'm very happy. I've got to be happy with what I achieved. It was the maximum to get at this tournament, especially after the (John) Millman and the Sandgren match.
"Today was horrible, to go through what I did. Nice entrance, nice send-off, and in between is one to forget because you know you have a three per cent chance to win. You've got to go for it. You never know. But, once you can see it coming, that it's not going to work anymore, it's tough."
Djokovic will meet the winner of the showdown between Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev, who play their semi-final on Friday, in the title match.
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