TENNIS: Roger Federer cruised into a record 19th consecutive grand slam semi-final after completely outclassing Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 6-0 6-0 at the Australian Open in Melbourne today.
Federer was in a class of his own on Rod Laver Arena as he booked a last-four tie with Andy Roddick, toying with the 20-year-old Argentinian who was playing in only his second grand slam quarter-final.
The second seed showed no ill effects from his epic five-setter against Tomas Berdych in the previous round and was on the front foot from the fourth game of the first set when he broke the Del Potro for the first time.
Del Potro, seeded eighth, never recovered and as the pressure mounted his error count soared, handing Federer the easiest of victories.
Federer barely put a foot wrong, hitting 12 aces and 38 winners as he mixed elegant ground strokes with some sublime drop shots and passes which had Del Potro, the youngest quarter-finalist at the Australian Open since Richard Krajicek in 1992, overwhelmed.
Having won the first set 6-3 with the minimum of fuss, the Swiss number two rattled off the next 12 games as he broke Del Potro at will to wrap up the win in one hour 20 minutes.
In the women's draw Jelena Dokic insisted she had no reason to be disappointed after bowing out against Dinara Safina.
The Australian, who came into the grand slam tournament on a wild card, had her dream run ended by the big-hitting Russian third seed 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
But after battling back from depression and becoming estranged from her family, Dokic has re-ignited her tennis career and won back the hearts of her adopted country folk with her efforts.
Today’s game was just one match too far, however, as the toll of not playing at such a high level for almost three years, and a sprained ankle suffered late in her previous match, finally took its toll.
“I have really fought well this week. I have no regrets. I just would like to keep it going,” she said.
“I played well with a girl who’s number three in the world today. I can still really take positives out of today, even though some of the points and the shots that I played at some stages of the match were maybe not right.”
She continued: “It’s been a great start to 2009. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I have to take all the positives and negatives out of today and really learn for the rest of the year about what I will do differently in a match like that. There’s absolutely nothing to be disappointed about.”
In an error-strewn but gripping match, Dokic lost a tight first set but bounced back immediately in the second to break the big-hitting Russian - who served 11 double faults in the match - and take a 3-0 lead.
But Safina then held serve to love and got the break back, only to lose the following service game to go 5-2 behind.
Although she broke again in the ninth game, it was not enough and a double fault handed Dokic, who hit some sublime winners down the line, the second set.
It was more of the same in the third as the error count from both players mounted.
Dokic failed to hold serve in the opening game but pushed the Russian to four deuces in the next before Safina closed it out.
The games then went with serve until the eighth when a backhand winner from Dokic got her back on level terms at 4-4.
It was short-lived, though, as another lengthy game, where Dokic saved three break points, finally went the way of Safina, who then wrapped up the match when Dokic found the net.
Safina admitted it had been tough taking on Dokic and the crowd on Rod Laver Arena.
“It was not easy to play, you know, having the whole crowd against you,” the 22-year-old said. “Because when you have the whole crowd behind you whenever you do a great shot, they pump you and then it makes you go for more and more.
“When you make a great shot and basically only my box is clapping for me, that’s tough.”