Federer marches past Berdych to Australian Open semis

Djokovic will start as favourite against Federer after he beat him in the Wimbledon and US Open finals previous year on his way to winning three Grand Slam titles and finishing runner-up at the French Open.

Djokovic eased past Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2 6-4 while Federer beat Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 6-4.

There was a big contrast between defending champion Djokovic, who is going for a record-equaling sixth Australian Open title, and the 34-year-old Federer, who hasn’t won in Melbourne since 2010.

Federer won 16 on 19 points at the net in the first two sets today.

Federer will meet the victor of the match between Kei Nishikori and top-seeded Novak Djokovic for the right to play in the first Grand Slam final of 2016.

Zhang said during the match she heard spectators behind her saying “quarterfinals, quarterfinals” and “it makes me very nervous!” “It would mean a lot to me [to win another Grand Slam]”.

“He’s one of the guys that makes you play better”.

“It would mean a lot to me, no doubt about it”, Federer said Tuesday when asked about the significance of winning one more major in the era of Djokovic.

The Scottish player moved into a 4-2 lead in the tiebreaker and went to match point after an ace and backhand error by Tomic.

“I was aggressive, had some variety in there”.

“I just would have liked Roger to say, ‘Okay, look, he had an awesome 2015. It’s part of the reason why I’m still playing”, Federer told reporters.

For Federer, who owns a record 17 Grand Slam titles, it offers a chance to prove that his best is not entirely behind him.

Despite common sense telling me that Djokovic should prevail, my gut instinct is that Nishikori will stun the tennis world and progress to the semi-finals. “Hopefully I can play my best tennis or I’ll be in trouble”, said the popular 26-year-old, who is on a 13-match win streak.

Federer has been beaten in Grand Slams three times in the last two seasons as a [1.20] shot or shorter (sometimes much shorter) and although on current form it’s hard to oppose him in the match odds market we can side with Berdych in the side markets.

Kyrgios is still playing under a suspended ban for an off-colour remark to Federer’s compatriot Stan Wawrinka a year ago and he alienated his home fans in Melbourne with more heated outbursts in his third round loss to Berdych.

With Nishikori committing plenty of mistakes, the world number one hammered home his advantage by gleefully accepting two break points in the first game of the second set.

Nishikori was humiliated 6-1 6-1 in his last meeting with Djokovic in November and will be hoping to avenge that defeat and revive memories of his stunning upset of the Serbian in the semi-finals of the 2014 US Open. She’s now into the quarterfinals against another unseeded player, Johanna Konta of Britain.

The courts are lower bouncing this year, according to the players, and that will help the Czech’s flat hitting on both wings, but the flip side is that the tall Berdych will have to reach down lower than he’s comfortable doing. I expected that. I was solid. Fifty-nine minutes after the match began, Federer captured the first set. Both top seeds – Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic – will be in action as well as plenty of other top competition.