Federer to face Roddick in semis

AUSTRALIAN OPEN Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 19 January-1 FebruaryCoverage: BBC Red Button, Radio 5 Live sports extra, BBC Sport website (Red Button coverage streamed on website throughout fortnight)

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Federer was in sensational form

Roger Federer returned to his majestic best as he thrashed world number six Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 6-0 6-0 in the Australian Open quarter-finals.

The world number two needed only one hour and 20 minutes to clinch victory.

He will now face Andy Roddick in the semi-finals after the American went through when defending champion Novak Djokovic retired in the fourth set.

Roddick was leading 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-2 2-1 when Djokovic pulled out after struggling in the intense 40C heat.

Djokovic suffered physically throughout a desperately hot afternoon and took a medical timeout in the third set.

The match was dominated by heavy serving in the opening set, with a tie-break required after neither player forced a break point.

It was Djokovic who came through the breaker, backing up his serve with some heavy forehands to race 4-0 clear and eventually take it 7-3.

I did request to play a night match but it didn't come up good for me Novak Djokovic

The pattern of the match continued until game seven of the second set, when some brave sorties to the net paid dividends for Roddick and he finally got the break.

The American, 26, then forced another break point two games later but his failure to convert made little difference as he served out the set in game 10.

As Roddick got stronger so Djokovic, 21, started to struggle physically, hitting two double faults and then setting up Roddick for a forehand pass to drop serve at the start of the third.

The Serb did well to break back immediately and then save another two break points in game three as suddenly both men looked vulnerable on serve.

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Having edged ahead at 2-1, Djokovic called for a medical timeout and received treatment to his right leg, which he told the doctor was hindering his service action, his neck and shoulders.

The champion duly dropped his next two service games as he made several listless errors to fall a break behind, and then double-faulted to give up the double break.

Roddick served out the set and, having saved four break points at the start of the fourth set, Djokovic consulted the doctor once again and brought the match to an end after he was broken to love in game three.

With temperatures on court soaring above 40C (104F), Djokovic felt he had not been helped by finishing his fourth-round match against Marcos Baghdatis in the early hours of Monday morning.

Djokovic philosophical after retirement

"I didn't really have time to recover," he said. "Conditions were extreme today.

"It did affect me more than him. I did request to play a night match but it didn't come up good for me.

"It's a really unfortunate way to end my Australian Open this way. I really tried my best but sometimes you can't fight against your own body."

Roddick, who will appear in his fourth Australian Open semi-final, said: "To be honest I didn't know (he was sick) until he called for help there.

"That's disappointing. I feel bad for Novak right now. He worked so hard for this last year. To not get a fair chance to defend his title, that's too bad."