Friday, January 25, 2013
Federer faces impressive Murray in Australian semi-final
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Roger Federer sets out to reach his 25th grand-slam final in the Australian Open semi-finals on Friday against Britain's Andy Murray, a player who could be on the cusp of overtaking the Swiss as the second best in the world.
The 25-year-old Scot holds a 10-9 career record against 17-times grand-slam champion Federer, including beating him in the 2012 London Olympics final.
Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in their men's singles quarter-final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, January 23, 2013. REUTERS/Damir SagoljMurray, though, has never beaten Federer in a grand-slam tournament, with the pair meeting in three finals: the 2008 U.S. Open, the 2010 Australian Open and last year at Wimbledon.
Federer's victory on the grass courts in south-west London last year inspired Murray to his gold-medal winning performance on the same courts a month later.
He went on to win his first grand-slam title at the U.S. Open, ending a 76-year wait for Britain's first male grand-slam winner.
Murray, who is trying to become the first man in the professional era to win his second grand slam immediately after his first, has been barely pushed throughout the Melbourne tournament, wrapping up all five matches so far in straight sets and spending less than nine hours on court.
The 31-year-old Federer had been little troubled until his quarter-final against seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, when the 27-year-old Frenchman pushed the Swiss into a fifth set in a match that lasted more than 3-1/2 hours.
The winner will meet top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final after the Serbian sent out a devastating message that he was in top form with a 6-2 6-2 6-1 demolition of fourth seed David Ferrer on Thursday.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
- Chong Wei continues to stay focused despite all the changes
- Khairy to look into matters after review
- Denmark’s Hoyer is new president of the BWF
- Pandelela-Mun Yee bag silver in Guadalajara
- Dragons aim to get back to winning ways against Heat
- The missing link
- Kevin smashes 400m freestyle national record to take gold
- Indonesian coach: Individual sponsorship will revive our shuttlers’ fortunes
- Izwan steers Sapura to third place
- Apacs extend Chun Seang’s contract for another year
- Williams sweeps Azarenka aside in Rome
- Six uncapped players get Ireland opportunity
- Thongchai faces McDowell in Match-Play climax
- Shaky start for favourites China
- Pedrosa wins in France, takes MotoGP lead
- Deans happy to take a punt on O'Connor at flyhalf
- Golf: Griffin wins fog-bound SK Telecom Open
- Swimming: Phelps throws cold water on comeback report
- Golf: Choi edges sizzling Nordqvist for LPGA lead
- Nadal to meet Federer in Rome final, Serena rolls on
RSS
