Federer into semifinals after beating Sandgren
Melbourne, Australia
Down to his very last gasp, time and again, against someone a decade younger, 100th-ranked Tennys Sandgren of the United States, Roger Federer somehow pulled off a memorable comeback to reach the Australian Open semifinals for the 15th time.
Despite all sorts of signs he was not quite himself for much of the match, Federer beat Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 on Tuesday in a rollicking quarterfinal that appeared to be over long before it truly was.
Federer only once before had won after facing as many as seven match points, and that was all the way back in 2003.
"Only maybe when I won that fourth set did I really think that, maybe, this whole thing could turn around," Federer said.
He said afterward that it had been his groin muscle that was the problem and he couldn't be certain whether he would be fully recovered for his next match. That will come against defending champion Novak Djokovic, who overwhelmed No. 32 Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (1) to improve to 10-0 against the 2016 Wimbledon runner-up.
It'll be the 50th meeting between No. 3 Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles, and No. 2 Djokovic, who owns 16.
Djokovic leads their head-to-head series 26-23, including their past five matches at majors.
"Roger is Roger. You know that he's always going to play on such a high level, regardless of the surface," Djokovic said. "He loves to play these kind of matches, big rivalries, semis, finals of Grand Slams."
About the only thing that slowed Djokovic's progression to a 37th career Grand Slam semifinal — Federer earned his 46th — was the medical timeout the Serb asked for at 4-all in the third set so he could put in new contact lenses.
"It was just something I had to do," Djokovic said, "because those few games, I really couldn't see...