Djokovic Dumps Federer Out Of Australian Open With Semi-Final Win

Serbian tennis professional, Novak Djokovic, has sealed a spot.in the finals of the ongoing Australian Open after defeating long-time rival Roger Federer with a straight-set in one of the semi-final matches.

The win moved him a step closer to retaining the Australian Open title. Djokovic was 4-1 and 0-4 down in the opening set before recovering to win the tie-break. That laid the platform for the 32-year-old second seed to go on and win 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-3.

Djokovic, who is aiming for a 17th Grand Slam title, will face either Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final with the pair set to square off in the other semi-final match of the competition.

“The match could have definitely gone a different way if he had used those break points [in the sixth game],” Djokovic said. “He started well – I was nervous.

“Respect to Roger for coming out tonight. He was obviously hurt and wasn’t close to his best in terms of movement.”

Victory in the final would mean a record eighth Australian Open triumph for Djokovic, who has lost just three matches at Melbourne Park in the past 10 tournaments. It would also move him within three of 38-year-old’s Federer’s all-time record of 20 men’s Grand Slam singles titles and within two of Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who lost to Thiem in Wednesday’s quarter-final.

Djokovic was the heavy favourite to beat his long-time rival in what was their 50th meeting with questions being asked about Federer’s fitness going into the match, having struggled with a groin problem in his epic quarter-final against Tennys Sandgren. And he needed an off-court medical timeout, presumably for the same problem, at the end of the first set.