Federer Brushes Blake Aside to Set Up Semi With Djokovic

Roger Federer has set up an enticing Australian Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic with a typically comprehensive victory over the American James Blake. Defending champion Federer never really got out of second gear, against 12th seed Blake, yet still rolled to a 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win.

Breaking Blake's service at the first attempt in all three sets, Federer allowed himself to be pegged back on a couple of occasions without ever looking at risk of losing his grip on the match. In the first set Blake, finding his rhythm with some typically violent groundstrokes, actually broke Federer straight back in the third game before leveling the set at 2-2, yet Federer was able to raise his game at the crucial moment in the final game of the set to break his opponent for a second time.

The second set followed an almost identical path, opening with an exchange of breaks before Federer once again found himself with two set points on Blake's serve - this time at 5-4. After venting his frustration at a line judge, Blake managed to dig deep and rescue the game, but not the set, as Federer pulled off a series of superlative shots to take the tie-break.

Drained by his efforts in the previous set, Blake was broken in the first and fifth games of the final set, and although he managed to break back once, Federer served out the game on his first match point to set up the tie with Djokovic, who is yet to drop a set in this year's tournament.

"It's great being on top of the game for so long and being compared to greats like [Rod] Laver and Pete Sampras," said Federer, who has now held the world No1 spot for a record 209 weeks. "It's great being part of the pinnacle of the sport in every grand slam I'm playing in."

Earlier, Djokovic had dismantled fifth seed David Ferrer in straight sets. Ferrer, who had only dropped one set himself so far in Melbourne, 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 apologizing 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."

Federer was full of praise for his next opponent, saying: "He's done a phenomenal job, four semi-finals of Grand Slams at his age. I was never close to that at his age. He's improved so much in the last couple of years and it's exciting playing the best in the world."