rogerfederer.com - Roger in semis after |five-set thriller

Roger in semis after |five-set thriller

A challenging, thrilling, brilliant shot making, cliff hanger of a match that saw our Roger come through 7-6,4-6,7-6,3-6,6-3.  "The whole match was tough. Any set could have gone either way," he said. "You never know what Jo's going to come up with. It was a pleasure to come through.I felt like I played some great tennis but Jo played great tennis too." There were times when Roger was imperious and times when Tsonga’s shot making made our champ look pedestrian. Tsonga had unleashed a series of brilliant shots to level the match at 2 sets all. He made 17 winners to Roger’s 7 in the 4th set to take it in style and set up a thrilling finish. In the end Roger’s experience, but even more his court craft, brought our champ through to a hard earned victory. The match was a stunner with no quarter given on either side – it took Roger 4 match points to close out Tsonga and win the final set 6-3 with a superb overhead smash at the 5th attempt. Our champ had been composure personified in this set and took the decisive break at 2-1 to set up an advantage he did not relinquish. This is Roger’s 10th straight semi-final in the Australian Open in his bid for an 24th Grand Slam final.

Roger has now set up the possibility of an electrifying semi-final match against the Scot Andy Murray – at the moment Murray leads 10-9 in career head to head matches.