Tomas Berdych, if he’d built on the pressure he created in the first set, could have made it through to his third Australian Open semi-final. Instead, he will see his opponent, who’s been so domineering in this tournament, play his 14th semi-final at the Melbourne Park.
Roger Federer, after overcoming a 0-3 deficit in the first set, thrashed Berdych 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-4 to set up a semi-final date with South Korea’s Hyeon Chung.
“Beating Grigor, beating Novak on this court is extremely difficult. Chung reminds me of Novak, sliding across the back of the court and getting balls back,” said Federer of his semi-final opponent after the match.
Berdych had an opportunity in the first set... that no one has had so far in this tournament. He raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set, pushing Federer to the edge. The Swiss, on his first service game, erred unforced thrice, and double-faulted once. But the world No 2, who hadn’t dropped a set over the last week, picked up his game quickly. He held his next three serves to go 3-5.
In the ninth game, Federer, was up 40-15 on Berdych’s serve. Even as the Czech equalised it, forcing two errors, the second seed closed the game with a characteristic down-the-line backhand winner. Federer roared “Come on!”, Berdych seemed to grieve in silence. The tide had turned. The set Berdych forced to a tie-breaker, but the Swiss coolly won it with four exquisite winners: two backhands and two forehands.
Despite playing poorly, Federer got away with the first set. Playing well, he took the second set away from the 19th seed. Once he double-faulted, compared to four times in the first set; fewer errors came from his racquet, but the winners, as usual, flowed. He struck 19 of them, many that evoked loud roars from the large gathering at the Rod Laver Arena.
The vicious slices and the cheeky drops of the backhand kept the Czech guessing. Federer also painted with perfection his down-the-line passes – one of them that helped him break Berdych in the second set in the eighth game. He held the service game for a two-set lead.
Berdych had a glimmer of hope when he broke Federer to go 2-2 in the third set. But Federer blew it away immediately, breaking him with another backhand down the line. He won the set 6-4 when Berdych netted a backhand.