Fed’s magnificent 7 sets up second miracle in Oz
ROGER Federer revealed he was unaware how many match points he had saved after staging his second miraculous comeback of the Australian Open to reach the semi-finals.
The third seed had come back from 4-8 in a deciding tie-break to beat John Millman in round three, but that was put into the shade by his efforts against Tennys Sandgren.
The 100th-ranked American had seven match points in the fourth set of the biggest match of his life but Federer saved all of them and went on to win 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6 (8) 6-3.
Federer struggled with a groin injury, taking an off-court medical timeout at 0-3 in the third set, and had difficulty moving to his forehand until the end of the tie-break.
By then he had saved three match points at 4-5 and four more in the tiebreak, including three in a row from 3-6.
Federer said later: “Honestly, when they told me seven, I was like, ‘What?’ I thought it was three. It’s such a blur at some point.
“I remember there were a few longer rallies on match points. I just said, ‘If he can belt a backhand down the line, or run around and go huge, he’s willing to take a chance,’ because you just don’t know if you’re going to get another opportunity for a match point like this.
“You’ve got to be a little bit careful. He did that. I thought it was the right play in that very moment by him. That’s why I feel a bit bad in a way because I didn’t feel like he did anything really wrong. I could have blinked at the wrong time and shanked. That would have been it. I was incredibly lucky today.” He moves through to a last-four clash with Novak Djokovic who paid an emotional tribute to Kobe Bryant after a straight-sets victory over Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals. Djokovic was good friends with the basketball star, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday, and he came out for the match on Rod Laver Arena wearing a jacket bearing the initials KB, Bryant’s numbers eight and 24 and a heart. Nick Kyrgios had spoken after his defeat by Rafael Nadal on Monday about being inspired by Bryant, and Djokovic certainly looked like a man on a mission in a 6-4 6-3 7-6 (1) victory. The defending champion broke down as he spoke about Bryant afterwards, saying: “He was one of the greatest athletes of all time. I had that fortune to have a personal relationship with him over the last 10 years.”
Ashleigh Barty is leaving the hype to the rest of Australia as she moves ever closer to a first title at Melbourne Park. Barty gained revenge on Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals, winning 7-6 (6) 6-2 to become the first Australian woman to make the last four in singles since Wendy Turnbull in 1984.
The ultimate aim is to become the first home winner of the women’s title since Chris O’Neil six years earlier and, if she can maintain the level she showed against Kvitova, she will take some stopping.
In the last four, Barty will take on 14th seed Sofia Kenin, who reached her first grand slam semi-final with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Ons Jabeur.
Barty’s face is inescapable around Melbourne but, an unassuming character, the 23-year-old said she would rather “be sitting at home just living my quiet little life”.
Britain’s Joe Salisbury is through to his second grand slam semi-final in men’s doubles at the Australian Open. The Londoner – who made the last four at Wimbledon in 2018 with Frederik Nielsen – alongside American Rajeev Ram beat Finn Henri Kontinen and Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 6-4 to set up a clash with Kazakh duo Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin.
Honestly, when they told me seven, I was like, ‘What?’ I thought it was three. It’s such a blur at some point.