Djokovic Dismantles Ferrer to Reach Semi-finals

Novak Djokovic dismantled fifth seed David Ferrer in straight sets to take his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Ferrer, who had only dropped one set so far at this year's tournament, was expected to pose a stiff challenge for Djokovic, but the third seed started at a breathtaking pace and only began to relent late in a 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory.

After blowing Ferrer away in the first set, Djokovic didn't have things all his own way in the second, having to dig himself out of with some booming serves when he had looked set to be broken at 2-2. Nevertheless, he broke Ferrer again to break his opponent and take the set 6-3, and break once again at the beginning of the third set.

Ferrer, playing his best tennis of the match, saved four match points before finally breaking back to draw level at 5-5, only to surrender his own serve on the very next game. Djokovic, who threw his racket at one point and berated at a section of the crowd who were distracting him as he tried to serve out the match, finally sealed the win on his fifth match point.

"In the end, I was very, very nervous," Djokovic admitted, before apologising for his show of temper. "There's no excuse for that, and I was behaving really really badly. [But] we all fight to win and sometimes on the court you cannot control your emotions. I am really happy to be through. I just have to start believing in myself a bit more."

Djokovic will face either world No1 Roger Federer or 12th seed James Blake in the semi-final.