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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Iron man Djokovic into Australian Open semi-finals

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic showed no signs of any lasting fatigue to overcome Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-4 on Tuesday and advance to the Australian Open semi-finals.

The world number one, bidding to become the first man to win three successive Australian Open titles since the game went professional, had been forced into a marathon five-set, five-hour fourth round clash against Stanislas Wawrinka on Sunday.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates defeating Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in their men's singles quarter-final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2013. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Berdych had felt that energy sapping clash could give him an opportunity to secure his second career win over the Serb and first since their Wimbledon semi-final in 2010.

Djokovic, however, bounced on his toes throughout and effortlessly scrambled and slid across court to wrap up victory in two hours, 31 minutes and set up a semi-final clash with Spain's David Ferrer.

(Writing by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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