Australian Open: Djokovic Beats Federer to Reach Final
Muguruza to play American Sofia Kenin in Saturday’s final
Novak Djokovic moved a step closer to retaining the Australian Open title with a straight-set semi-final win over injury-hit rival Roger Federer.
Serbia’s Djokovic was 4-1 and 40-0 down in the opening set before recovering to win the tie-break.
That laid the platform for the 32-year-old second seed to go on and win 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-3.
Djokovic, aiming for a 17th Grand Slam title, will face Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.
“The match could have definitely gone a different way if he had used those break points [in the sixth game],” Djokovic said.
“He started well - I was nervous.
“Respect to Roger for coming out tonight. He was obviously hurt and wasn’t close to his best in terms of movement.”
Victory would mean a record-extending eighth Australian Open triumph for Djokovic, who has lost just three matches at Melbourne Park in the past 10 tournaments.
It would also move him within three of 38-year-old’s Federer’s all-time record of 20 men’s Grand Slam singles titles and within two of Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who lost to Thiem in Wednesday’s quarter-final
Djokovic was the heavy favourite to beat his long-time rival in what was their 50th meeting.
In the ladies single, Garbine Muguruza continued her recent revival by reaching the Australian Open final with a straight-set win over Romania’s Simona Halep.
She will face American Sofia Kenin in Saturday’s final.
The unseeded Spaniard, 26, battled past the fourth seed in a tense 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 semi-final victory.
The two-time Grand Slam champion fought off four set points in the opener and twice came back from a break down in the second.