Roger Federer sent a reminder to the young guns of men’s tennis that he is nowhere near close to riding quietly into the sunset when he romped to victory in just 39 minutes at the Brisbane International yesterday.
The 33-year-old Swiss maestro produced a masterclass of shot-making as he thrashed Australian wildcard James Duckworth 6-0 6-1 to charge into the semi-finals of the Australian Open warm-up event.
Federer’s amazing performance came just 24 hours after he struggled to see off John Millman, raising doubts about his form ahead of the first grand slam of the year.
It was also stark evidence that he remains a major force in men’s tennis with an utterly dominant victory on the same day Japanese sensation Kei Nishikori led a trio of rising stars into the last four.
Nishikori, still on a high after reaching the final of last year’s US Open, continued his impressive build-up to Melbourne when he demolished Bernard Tomic 6-0 6-4.
He was joined in the last four by Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov, another two up-and-comers tipped to challenge the old order at this year’s majors.
Raonic rode his booming serve to a 7-6 3-6 7-6 win over Australia’s Sam Groth to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against Nishikori.
Dimitrov made light work of his quarter-final with Martin Klizan, defeating the Slovakian 6-3 6-4 to book an equally attractive encounter against Federer.
Raonic and Dimitrov both made the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year and while they stumbled against their more seasoned opponents they, along with Nishikori, have been earmarked as potential grand slam winners this year.
Auckland showdown
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki and the evergreen Venus Williams won their semi-finals at the Auckland Classic yesterday to set up a final showdown between two former world number ones.
Wozniacki advanced to her 38th WTA career final with a hard-fought 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
Then Williams, showing few signs of slowing down at the age of 34, joined her in today’s title match with a 6-0 6-3 win romp over fellow American Lauren Davis.
For Williams it marks her 76th appearance in a final. Already the sixth oldest woman to claim a title after she won in Dubai last year, if Williams wins she will become the fourth oldest champion.