Roger Federer didn’t think in ‘wildest dreams’ he’d reach Aussie Open final

Four-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer has survived a mid-match scare to grind out a place in the Australian Open final over Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3.

The 38-year-old Federer could barely breathe when Stan Wawrinka staged a comeback to take the Australian Open men’s singles semifinal into a decider. I never thought it would be this good.

It has been three years since Nadal and Federer, once ruthless accumulators of their sport’s major prizes, last dueled in a grand slam – and nine years since their never to be forgotten five-set Wimbledon final. Wawrinka the three-time Grand Slam victor spoke about Federer, “Against Roger, it’s always special because he’s so good”.

Nadal, on the other hand, downplayed Roddick’s enthusiasm and said that at least for now, he will focus on getting ahead of his Semi-Final opponent, No 15 seed Gregor Dimitrov, news.com.au reported.

But Wawrinka’s awesome power at the baseline, which pushed Federer deeper and deeper in the court, would be telling as he took the match to a fifth set. “I just said: You know what?”

Federer said the mentoring had stopped well before Wawrinka won his maiden grand slam at the Australian Open in 2014, though the fact he did it at Melbourne Park was a surprise given his early struggles on hard courts.

“I came from two sets down, I changed completely the momentum, I started to be extra aggressive because I had to change few things also physically, so I change my game with that”. Other members of the hall-of-fame class of 2017 include former world number-one ranked players Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick, wheelchair tennis player Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch and journalist and historian Steve Flink. However, it was the brilliance of Federer, which helped him win the first set 7-5.

I’ve been lucky enough as a sports fan to witness the career of possibly the best tennis player in history. “When I step on the court, it’s always something special because he’s the best player, because of everything he’s done in his career, because the way he’s playing, because he’s Swiss, because he’s a really close friend, because of everything we’ve been (through) together”.

There was yet another upset in the Australian Open, this one at the expense of women’s seventh seed Garbine Muguruza.

Another break followed as Wawrinka begin hitting at full pelt and he took the third set in just 26 minutes.

The first set somehow stayed on serve until Wawrinka, needing to hold again to force a tiebreak, made two costly unforced errors at a crucial time to cede the advantage.

Venus Williams said she liked a court that was “playable” – where winners, or what should be winners, don’t come back every time, prolonging the rally. “But I managed to beat him in a grand slam, so we’ll see”, added Stan.

It is an intriguing match-up as the all-time great sizes up his long-term accomplice Wawrinka, with much on the line.