Roger Federer beat Misha Zverev in straight sets 6-1 7-5 6-2 to reach the semifinal at the Australian Open for the second consecutive year and for the 13th 13th time in his career. The Swiss Maestro has secured his spot in the 41st Grand Slam semifinal in his career. Federer is the oldest player to qualify a Grand Slam semifinal since Jimmy Connors, who reached the last four at the 1991 US Open.
“I am pleased with the way I started the match. Right away again I got off to a good start against him, like I did against him a few years ago. After that, everything is easier. The second set was a key to shut it down for him. It was good that I was able to break back after he played a good game there. In the third set I was rolling. It was a nice match. I think I played great. Misha had a wonderful tournament, so well down to him”
Roger said that the thing that has most surprised him in the eight matches he has played since his come-back to the court after an absence of six months was his ability to win back-to-back matches in best-of-five sets against great players like Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori and Misha Zverev. Federer will face his compatriot Stan Wawrinka in a blockbuster semifinal but admitted that he did not even know a few days ago that Stan was in his section of the draw.
“That’s been for me the big question mark, if I could win back-to-back matches in best of-five sets so early in my comeback. I felt I was always going to be dangerous on any given day in a match situation. As the tournament would progress, maybe I would fade away with energy. Now that I am in the semifinals, feeling as good as I am, that’s a huge surprise to me. Like I said on the court, if someone would have told me I’d play in the semis against Stan, I would never have called that one for me. For Stan, yes, but not for me. I honestly I didn’t even know a few days ago that he was in my section of the draw or I am in his section. I figured it out that he was playing on my days, but I never really looked in that quarter of the draw because that was just unrealistic for me”.
Federer said that he was surprised to see Stan Wawrinka win the Australian Open as his first career Grand Slam title.
“In the beginning he was really struggling on faster courts. I played him in Rotterdam and other places. You could sense in his footwork, the way he was returning that he was uncomfortable on them. That’s why it was uncomfortable for me to see that his first Grand Slam he was going to win was the Australian Open. If I would have called any Grand Slam for him to win it was always going to be the French Open, because he moved so effortless on clay. That’s his DNA really.
