Aggression required for Federer to outlast Wawrinka

ROGER FEDERER did what Andy Murray could not by beatingMischa Zverev to reach his 41st grand slam semi-final at the Australian Open.

Zverev has turned back the clock with his serve and volley tactics in Melbourne but the biggest throwback may be yet to come as Federer moved one step closer to an 18th grand slam title.

The 35-year-old, whose last major triumph came at Wimbledon in 2012, cruised to a 6-1 7-5 6-2 victory on Rod Laver Arena and will now face Stan Wawrinka in an all-Swiss showdown for a place in Sunday’s final.

Zverev, ranked 50th in the world, had bamboozled Murray with his old-school serve and volley tactics but perhaps the surprise factor had been lost because Federer never looked rattled.

Instead, he hit 65 winners and broke six times, with Zverev managing to win only 44 of his 90 forays to the net. Federer took the first set in just 19 minutes.

“I used to like those days when they came in a bit but not so much now,” said Federer.

“The game has changed, courts are slower, balls are slower, I had to adapt my game to a different style.

“I enjoy that, baseline slugfests are okay too.

“We’ll probably get some of them next match.”

Venus Williams posted another triumph for the old guard at the Australian Open by beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach her 21st grand slam semi-final.

Williams will now play Coco Vandeweghe, who beat seventh seed Garbine Muguruza, in an allAmerican semi-final.

Great Britain are set to be without Andy Murray for their Davis Cup clash with Canada next weekend after he was not named in the initial four-man team. Beverley’s Kyle Edmund is in the squad.