Roger Federer came through another stiff challenge in the form of Andy Murray in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open to seal his berth in the last four of the tournament. Federer, who was looking really good in the third round match against Tsonga, played brilliantly for one more time to send the Britain’s only hope Andy Murray packing.
Federer came into the match without losing any set in the previous matches in the tournament. He almost maintained that record in this match as well. But due to some spirited fightback by the 26-year old Briton, in the third set that he had to drop a set. Unfortunately this comeback was inconsequential as Federer came through the fourth set with real ease. The final score read 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in favour of the Swiss maestro. It seems that Stefan Edbarg’s valueable suggestions have really brought back Federer to his near best as he was playing with much more confidence and went for everything, like he used to do in his younger days. The third set slip-up was just a result of some loss of momentum but he remained as cool as ever to win the fourth set and bring an end to the fight after almost three and a half hours.
On the other hand, the world no 1, Rafael Nadal was pushed to the brink before he came up 
with some spirited display to prevent the occurrence of further shocks in the tournament. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, more popular as the fiancée of Maria Sharapova, looked set for making the headlines as he won the opening set against the top seed in their quarterfinal encounter. However he could not manage anything more that could have led to that upset as Nadal came back strongly to win the next three sets to book his place in the semifinal. The score stood 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-3 in favour of the Spaniard. However the way in which Nadal was forced back to the baseline by Dimitrov might be considered as ominous signs for the top seed. He must have a look at those before coming on to the court next time, which is in the semis.
The Australian Open is now set to witness one of the famous battles of modern era-Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer. Two of the old friends and foes are set to go hard at each other in a bid to find their place in the final. Though Roger has had limited number of successes against the left-hander, this time round it may not end in a similar result. Thus an intriguing encounter is on the cards as two of the greatest players of the modern era are set to cross swords at the Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
Tags: Andy Murray Australian Open Australian Open 2014 Australian open semifinal Grigor Dimitrov Rafael Nadal Roger Federer vs Andy Murray Roger Federer Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal
