Miscellaneous
Federer to face Nadal in semis after beating Murray
Roger Federer regained his dominance over Andy Murray in Grand Slam matches and advanced to his 11th consecutive Australian Open semifinal with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 win on Wednesday.Federer clinched it on his third match point with an ace to set up a showdown with top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who beat Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-2.
Murray got angry after a ruling while losing his serve in the ninth game of the third set when he indicated the ball had bounced twice before Federer made a return.
After requiring four match points to go through after losing the first set and facing a struggle all the way to victory, Nadal was relieved.
“The blister only really affects me on serve,” said Nadal. “The rest of the shots are fine.
“On serve, I feel like the racquet can move. I’ll try to keep improving the hand tomorrow and be ready for the semifinal.
“The blisters are much better, but I still need to play with protection on it.”
Dimitrov won the first set in just 36 minutes but was then tested for the rest of a contest lasting for more than three-and-a-half hours.
Nadal levelled as he won the second set in a tiebreaker and saved three set points in the third to hold off his opponent.
“He has a similar style to Roger,” Nadal said of Dimitrov. “I was lucky, anything could have happened in this match. But I’m through and I’m happy for that. It gives me an opportunity to be in the semifinals again.”