Roger Federer brushes aside Tomas Berdych to reach semis

Australian Open

Roger Federer remains on course to successfully defend his Australian Open title after dispatching Tomas Berdych in the quarter-final.

The five-time champion hit 61 winners en route to a 7-6(7-1), 6-3, 6-4 victory in two hours and 18 minutes.

The first set was a fairly even affair and it was actually Federer who lost his serve first as the 19th seed from the Czech Republic went 3-0 up after breaking in the second game.

However, the man from Switzerland broke back in the ninth game and then easily won the tie-breaker. It was going according to serve until the eighth game of the second set when Federer got the decisive break.

Berdych lost his serve as early as the third game of the third set, but then hit back to level things at 2-2 only for Federer to claim another break to go 3-2 up, and there was no comeback this time.

It is the third straight year that Federer has beaten Berdych in the Australian Open and he admits he is feeling better than he did this time last year.

“I prefer it this way. I wake up this morning feeling normal whereas last year every morning I’d wake up and be like ‘ah my back, my leg, my foot or whatever was hurting'” he said. “But yeah that match against Berdych showed me that I could go deep in the tournament.

“This year is totally different. My expectations are totally different. I won a couple of slams last year whereas last year I hadn’t won one in four and a half years. It was nice that win against Tomas last year, and this time again of course.”

Federer will take on the unseeded Hyeon Chung for a place in the final after the Korean beat American Tennys Sandgren to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.

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