Novak Djokovic crushed 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer on Thursday to sweep into a record eighth Australian Open final and move closer to his 17th Grand Slam crown.

In the 50th instalment of one of sport’s greatest rivalries, the Serb shrugged off a tentative start to reinforce his recent dominance, showing no mercy to Federer in a 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-3 win.

He will play either fifth seed Dominic Thiem or seventh-ranked German Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final, but it will take a monumental effort to prize another title from the 32-year-old. Federer struggled with an injury after the first set and took a medical time-out. There was no stopping Djokovic from there as he went from strength to strength in a venue where he is almost peerless.

Federer, though, went down like a champion and still manage to amaze tennis fans with his backhand. The contest was nothing like the Wimbledon final, the epic where Federer was arguably the better player. Djokovic marches on Thiem and Zverev have an almighty task on their hands to down the world No 2.

Here’s how Twitter praised Djokovic, but not with doffing their hats to Federer’s best efforts.

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