“In the end of the day you are battling yourself the most”, Djokovic said of his turnaround.
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The 10-time Grand Slam champion was in jaw-dropping form in the opening two sets, carving up Federer in their 15th Grand Slam encounter with his dazzling groundstrokes for the loss of only three games.
The overall match lasted two hours and 19 minutes, which is awfully short compared to numerous five-hour sagas Djokovic has played in semifinals and finals over the course of his career.
It would be nearly 12 minutes before they re-engaged as the roof was closed ahead of a promised storm-and Federer thumped four errors from 0-30 up to lose his momentum nearly at once.
But, she’ll still start as a huge underdog in Saturday’s title match against Williams.
Djokovic will now await the victor of the Andy Murray-Milos Raonic semifinal on Friday night.
“I played flawless tennis for the first two sets, no doubt about it”.
Williams advanced to the women’s finals by dominating her highest-seeded competition in Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-0, 6-4.
The fourth set was closely contested as a resurgent Federer threatened to extend Djokovic to five sets for the first time since their epic meeting in the 2014 Wimbledon final.
“I think I played well, especially in the first set, I was able to do everything I needed to do and hitting all the right shots with little to no errors”, Williams said.
Djokovic seemed a class above his long-term rival while compiling two sets in just 54 minutes, but a determined Federer hauled back the third set before the world No 1 ended his resistance in a thrilling fourth.
Federer, though, was adamant he could at some stage get the better of Djokovic at a major.
“But I think the nerves will be getting better when I’m out there in the final”.
Djokovic broke in the first game and lost only one point behind his first serve as he raced through the opener. But he still could not get anything going on his opponents serve.
Federer rose to the challenge, however, with some scintillating tennis in the third but it proved no more than a consolation as Djokovic booked his sixth Australian Open final. Suddenly, there watch a match on again as Federer searched for the unlikeliest of turnarounds, sealing the set when Djokovic overhit a wild return. I get that because you think I’m old and all that.
Williams hasn’t played a left-hander so far this tournament and said that, combined with Kerber’s win over two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals, were making her wary.
Djokovic said later that he was not concerned by the crowd’s overwhelming support for Federer.
On the surface, Djokovic’s win over the third-ranked Federer appears to be nothing more than a four-set victory. He deserved to win that one.
But she could only win seven points in the first set as Williams made a stunning start, racing to the opening set in just 21 minutes and hitting 18 winners to Radwanska’s one. Quite close. At least as close as their US Open final bout, when Federer failed to capitalize on plenty of opportunities to turn the match in his favor. The top-seeded Djokovic saved the first three break points he faced, but Federer converted on the fourth.
Alas, the miracle shot was not enough for Federer.
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It’s just a fact that right now there’s nothing that Djokovic feels he can’t do. Maybe parts of my game, maybe parts of his game just matched up in a tough way and the first set ran away very quickly.
