Tennis: World number one Roger Federer has crashed out of the Australian Open in straight sets to Novak Djokovic. The Serbian won their semi-final 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7/5) in two hours 27 minutes and is yet to drop a set.
It is the first time Federer has failed to reach a grand slam final since falling to clay-court master Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the French Open in May 2005.
The 26-year-old reigning champion showed signs of his top form, especially in the third set tie-break, but Djokovic held on for a famous win.
Federer took first blood in the seventh game of the first set, cleverly mixing his ground strokes to force Djokovic into a mistake and breaking the world number three.
In the crucial 10th game Djokovic lost his temper after playing a long forehand volley, smashing his racket into the court, but recovered to take his first break point.
But Federer did not consistently time his strokes as well as the 20-year-old Serbian, who took the next two games and the first set 7-5.
The trend continued into the second set as Federer missed two powerful forehands, conceding two break points in the fourth - the second of which Djokovic took with a phenomenal backhand pass.
He then broke in the sixth to take the score to 5-1.
Djokovic saved two break points in the next game before falling to a third, and Federer seemed to find his form.
The young Serbian was then warned by the referee for taking too long on serve, but remained composed enough to take the second set with an ace.
Federer improved in the third, getting a set point against serve in the 12th game, though Djokovic himself had chances to break Federer for the fifth time before the set went to a tie-break.
Djokovic took his first match point against Federer's serve to reach his second-ever grand slam final.
The world number three will now face surprise package Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's final.
Frenchman Tsonga (22) is the first unseeded player to reach his first ATP final in a grand slam tournament in 11 years, and began the tournament ranked 38 in the world. PA