Federer through at Murray´s expense

Roger Federer bounced back from a third-set stutter to defeat Andy Murray and progress to the last four of the Australian Open. The Swiss sixth seed progressed 6-3 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3, with a spirited effort from Murray ensuring it was not a straight-sets victory. It sets up another chapter in Federer's rivalry with top seed Rafael Nadal, with the duo now set to set to meet on Friday. When Federer – who has now advanced to an 11th consecutive Australian Open semi-final appearance - stepped up to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third set, he had held serve 69 times out of 70 for the tournament, and had neither been broken for the evening, nor had he faced break point. But the fourth seed Scot showed his true colours, not only breaking back to force a tie-break, but then he saved two match points - one of which a 25-stroke rally - to pinch a set. However, a fit Federer had too much class, while Murray finally felt the wear and tear of his first post-surgery major, as his back twinged in the eighth game of the fourth set, one he would concede before the 17-time major winner served it out. Federer denied Murray a fifth successive spot in the semis at Melbourne Park, but the defeat was not a blight on the two-time major winner, who had a credible run given his recent injury. Four-times Aussie Open champion Federer grabbed the first break of the match in the fourth game, when Murray punched a forehand long. And he was already celebrating the set victory when he crunched a forehand winner for 40-0 in the ninth game, before converting the set lead moments later. In the second, Federer broke in the fifth game to take command. But there was to be the first real twist of the match in the 10th game of the third set. For the sixth time, Murray took a lead on the Federer serve, but for the first time, he converted it into two break points - and he won the second of those to prolong the battle. A tie-break ensued and Murray dug deep, reeling off four straight points after trailing 4-6 to take it into a fourth. But Murray's back started giving him significant grief as he served at 3-4, and he got himself into a 0-40 hole via three unforced errors - one he would not escape from.