Champion Novak Djokovic foiled a stirring fightback from Roger Federer to defeat the Swiss 6-1 6-2 3-6 6-3 at the Australian Open on Thursday and charge into a fifth successive grand slam final.
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Novak Djokovic has easily won the first set 6-1 in his semifinal against Roger Federer on Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic will face either Andy Murray or Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final in Melbourne.
They may be locking horns for a 45 time but a showdown between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will never be considered a normal match, according to the latter’s coach Boris Becker.
It’s a rematch of last year’s final at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, both of which Djokovic won in thrilling nailbiters.
It will be the 15th time Djokovic and Federer meet in a Grand Slam, extending their own record for the most matchups at the majors in the Open era, which started in 1968. Moreover, Federer and Djokovic played in the US Open and Wimbledon a year ago in which the Serb won both.
Considering he has had the upper hand in best-of-five matches against Federer recently, many predict yet another Djokovic victory today. The top-seeded Djokovic saved the first three break points he faced, but Federer converted on the fourth.
Radwanska made the second set more of a contest but she had neither the power nor the skill to prevent the world number one marching on to her 26th grand slam final. Federer vs Djokovic results and scores will be posted here.
It felt like match point and so it proved as Djokovic served out easily to confirm an emphatic victory in two hours and 19 minutes.
“It’s part of the reason why I guess I’m still playing”, he said Tuesday. Federer came out strong.
Williams finished with eight aces – all in the second set – and has lost only 26 games in six rounds in a dominating run that included a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 5 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, a rematch of the 2015 final. Serving at 5-3 for the set, Federer’s wife Mirka could not watch as the Swiss battled to close it out but Djokovic fired a forehand long on the third set point to raise thunderous cheers from the terraces.
“Physically I’m feeling a lot better, mentally I needed that break after the Open”, she said, but “I didn’t think I would do this well this fast”. Djokovic had to labor for four-and-a-half hours to beat Simon, thus he was in no mood to mess around with the seventh-seeded Nishikori.
ROGER Federer still loves the game as much as he ever did.
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Williams’ win over fourth-seeded Radwanska provided another yet reminder of her dominance in the women’s game. He knows anything less than that against Federer won’t be good enough. I enjoy being able to come to the net more like back in the day. “I’ve had some moments against him in sets where I’ve played on a high level, but this a different level than from before”. Ball boys and girls used towels to dry up a few water spots, and play resumed to allow Kerber to serve and take the set.
