TIL Desk Sports/ Defending champion Roger Federer swept into a record 14th Australian Open semi-final with an immaculate straight sets win over long-time rival Tomas Berdych. The second seed cruised to a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-4 win in 2hr 14min on Rod Laver Arena and will face unseeded South Korean Chung Hyeon on Friday for a place in the final.
The 19-time Grand Slam champion, who hasn’t lost in five matches against Berdych in Melbourne, will play in his 43rd Grand Slam semi-final, a record for the post-1968 Open Era.
The Swiss legend has yet to face Chung, who has got past six-time champion Novak Djokovic and world No.4 Alexander Zverev to get to the last four. Federer’s latest victory was his 92nd in 105 matches in Melbourne to make the Australian Open his most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won along with Wimbledon.
“I’m happy I got out of the first set. It ended up being the key of the match,” Federer said on court. “Tomas played well in the first couple of sets especially. I think in the third set he dropped a little bit. “It was tough the first set. Could have gone either way. He deserved it. I stole that one a little bit.”
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