Djokovic Ousts Federer En Route to Finals of the Australian Open
Novak Djokovic stunned defending champion Roger Federer, 7-6 7-5 6-4, to reach his second Australian Open final on Thursday after a match of high emotion which threatened to boil over. It is the second straight major in which Djokovic has knocked Federer out, including the U.S. Open semifinals. Djokovic will face either Britain’s Andy Murray, the fifth seed, or seventh seed David Ferrer from Spain in his fourth grand slam final on Sunday.
Federer’s dramatic exit, 24 hours after that of world number one Rafael Nadal, left the Swiss master without a major title for the first time since 2003. Federer and Nadal have won 21 of the last 23 grand slam titles. Second seed Federer, looking to add to his record 16 major titles with a fifth Australian Open, paid dearly for playing a passive first-set tiebreak, Djokovic tearing through it 7-3.
Federer choked when serving at 5-3 in the second set, a fired-up Djokovic roaring back to seize complete control of the match by crunching a double-fisted backhand down the line. Djokovic broke for 2-1 in the third set, ruffling Federer, who not for the first time in the match spoke sharply to chair umpire Enric Molina at the changeover. Federer, already upset about noise from Djokovic’s box, then complained to his opponent across the net for the number of times the Serb was bouncing the ball between serves, to which Djokovic sarcastically replied, “Sorry.” If anything, Djokovic subsequently took more time between points, but Federer fought his way back to 4-4 with a forehand winner. It proved only a temporary reprieve for the former world number one though, who immediately surrendered his serve again. On his thrid match point opportunity Djokovic finally closed out with a big serve Federer could only dump into the net after exactly three hours.
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