Federer fights back to make semis
Roger Federer fought back from a set and a break down against Nikolay Davydenko
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 27, Jan 2010 09:30
By Alistair Potter.
Roger Federer is into his 23rd consecutive grand slam semi-final after coming from a set and a break down to beat Nikolay Davydenko 2-6 6-3 6-0 7-5.
The Swiss star reeled off 13 straight games between the middle of the second set and the early stages of the fourth to effectively end his Russian opponent's hopes of springing an upset at the Australian Open.
Federer started slowly and was making several uncharacteristic unforced errors as Davydenko broke his serve twice and sealed the first set in double-quick time.
The Russian's groundstrokes were proving a real bugbear for Federer and things looked decidedly uncertain as he again lost his serve early in the second.
Despite facing two more break points at 1-3, which would have given Davydenko a commanding lead in the second set, Federer suddenly seemed to click into gear and his remarkable run of games began.
Picking off his opponent at will, Federer roared back with two breaks of serve to clinch the second set then fired off a series of winners to clinch the third without losing a game.
A brief response from Davydenko stopped the rot at 2-0 in the fourth set and he briefly staged a recovery by breaking Federer to level things up at 3-3.
But the world number one was too strong for the Russian, who had won the last two encounters between the players, and he wilted under the pressure to hand Federer a place in the last four again.