Roger Federer Storms Into Semis

27 January 2009

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Roger Federer may have had a scare in his previous match, a five set thriller against Tomas Berdych, but he was back to his best as he stormed into the semis.

The number two seed and former champion needed just one hour and twenty minutes to see off Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets 6-3 6-0 6-0.

The Argentine and world number six del Potro was expected to push Federer having had a good run in the competition over the past weak but was made to look pedestrian by the former world number one.

Federer broke del Potro in the fourth game of the first set going on to clinch it with little resistance from the Argentine.

Del Potro was playing in only his second grand Slam quarter final and he looked out of sorts as Federer won twelve consecutive games to clinch the match.

He will now face American and Andy Roddick who saw off defending champion Novak Djokovic after the Serb retired half way through his match.

Playing in 40C heat Djokovic was trailing Roddick 6-7 6-4 6-2 2-1 when he called it a day, the fourth time he has pulled out of a grand Slam match.

Djokovic had been unhappy about the scheduling of his match after his request for an evening match was denied, he didn't complete his fourth round match against Marcos Baghdatis until the early hours of Monday morning.

Despite coming under fire from Federer for quitting the world number three defended his decision saying: "I always retire with a reason. I felt I could not go on."

The last of the men's quarter final matches will be played tomorrow as world number one Rafael Nadal takes on Giles Simon while Murray's conqueror Fernando Verdasco will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

But Australia's Jelena Dokic's fairytale run came to an end today as she lost her quarter final to third seed Dinara Safina.

Dokic returned to top tier tennis in the Australian open after a lengthy absence due to personal issues. Safina will now go on to play compatriot Vera Zvonareva after she saw off Marion Bartoli.

The other ladies quarter finals will go ahead tomorrow as Suarez Navarro takes on Dementieva while Kuznetsova plays Serena Williams.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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