Federer holds on to down Berdych

ROGER Federer dramatically fought his way into the Miami Open semifinals with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych.

The 35-year-old Swiss, who has already won the Australian Open and Indian Wells so far this year, extended his wining streak over Berdych to seven matches.

There was plenty of tension in the match-deciding tie-breaker, where Federer saved match point and then Berdych lost on a doublefault. “I definitely got very lucky at the end,” Federer said.

“I definitely got very lucky at the end but I think I showed great heart today [Thursday],” Federer said.

He next will play the winner of the quarter-final between two of the ATP’s up-and-coming stars, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

Should Federer win, there is a chance he will play in tomorrow’s final against long-standing rival Rafael Nadal, who faces Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the other semi.

But Thursday could very easily have been the end of the tournament for Federer, who entered the match having not dropped a set over eight consecutive matches.

Berdych was broken in the opening game of the match and then Federer dealt with a break point in the second game.

The Swiss was comfortable on his serve and then broke Berdych again at 4-2 to put the opening set beyond doubt.

But then, the Czech dug deep and came out fighting.

Berdych broke to go 5-3 up and took the contest into a third set, where Federer made the most of some unforced errors from his opponent to break at 4-2 but then, uncharacteristically, Federer let some sloppiness creep into his game.

Federer was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 and was unable to convert on match-point at in the next game.

The Czech led 6-4 in the tie-breaker but gave up two points and Federer blasted a superb ace to get in front before the double-fault from the Czech ended the contest.

It was the second demoralising defeat this month for Berdych. He lost at Indian Wells in the third round after leading 6-1, 5-2 against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Asked about his frustration, Berdych said: “What should I do? Should I destroy the table? Then you see how much I’m frustrated. I don’t know.

“It’s obviously not something that you want, to finish the tournament like that. But I got a lesson in the last tournament, so this is going to be fine to get over with.

“I think this is going to be a strawberry cake after that. It’s going to be fine.”

Federer improved to 17-1 in 2017, his best start to a season since 2006, and has now won seven tie-breakers in a row. — AFP