“I’m very, very happy. Tomas has caused me a lot of problems over the years,” said Federer, who notched his 80th win at Melbourne Park, making the Australian Open his most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. “He’s one of the guys who makes you a better player. He’s beaten me on the biggest courts around the world.”
“He was playing really, really aggressive, without any mistakes, without any unforced errors,” said Berdych. “He was just too good today. I mean, that's it. That's the way that he needed to play this time. He did it, I would say, quite accurately today.”
Federer and Berdych traded breaks in the third and fourth games of the opening set. Berdych saved a set point serving at 4-5, 30/40, but the No. 6 seed couldn’t hold off Federer in the tie-break. The 17-time Slam champ carried the momentum into the second set, converting service breaks in the first and seventh games to further distance himself.
They again swapped breaks in the second and third games of the final set. But with Berdych serving at 4-all, he was broken for the fifth time, giving his opponent a chance to serve out the match in two hours and six minutes. Federer finished with 48 winners to 26 unforced errors. His aggressive attack resulted in 24 of 29 (83%) successful net points.
“I do feel really good at the net since a few years now,” said the Swiss. “It's where it all sort of started for me when I came on tour. I know how it works up there. I still think there's room for improvement. Every player manages to defend or pass it differently. The question is, do you come in off a low ball because you're being dragged in, or are you coming in on your terms? You would assume that these are not stats you can keep up. It's okay. As long as you're coming in on the right plays, it's okay to be beat.”
“I think he's still on a pretty high level, playing great tennis,” Berdych told reporters. “He's just proving how great a player he is, how difficult at this time it is to play him. To face Roger in the quarters, it's quite difficult.”
Tuesday’s quarter-final marked their seventh Grand Slam meeting, and their third at the Australian Open. Federer remains unbeaten against the 6'5'' Czech in Melbourne, including rallying from a two-set deficit in 2009. He now holds a 16-6 advantage overall in ATP Head to Head encounters.
Federer had lost their past two meetings at a major - in four sets in the quarter-finals at both Wimbledon in 2010 and the US Open in 2012.
Berdych, who was bidding to reach the semis for the third consecutive year, was also aiming for his 550th tour-level win. Just six active players have reached that milestone - Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Andy Murray and Tommy Haas. He has now lost 13 of his past 14 matches against Top-3 competition.
Federer, 34, is the oldest man to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam since Andre Agassi (35) at the 2005 US Open.
Date: 26th January 2016, Source: ATP
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