Federer wins 1,000th match, will face Nadal

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

A dominating win by Roger Federer in his 1,000th career match and a more difficult workout for Rafael Nadal set up a rare Grand Slam marquee semi-final between the former top-ranked players.

Four-time Australian Open champion Federer advanced to his ninth straight semi-final at Melbourne Park with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 quarter-final win yesterday over Juan Martin del Potro, the man who beat him for the US Open title in 2009.

Federer's 1,000th match was similar to most in his career - no-nonsense, dominating from the start and hitting some incredible shots.

"It's a lot of matches and a lot tennis," said Federer, a record 16-time Grand Slam champion. "Either I have been around for a long time or I'm extremely fit. You decide which way you want to describe it. But I'm happy."

In an often tempestuous night match at Rod Laver Arena, Nadal advanced with a tough 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych.

"Happy with how I finished match physically, I was able to keep running with high intensity," Nadal said.

Federer and Nadal - they were ranked 1-2 for many years - have been on opposite halves of the draw since the 2005 French Open. That was the last time the pair met in a Grand Slam semi-final, won that year by Nadal in four sets.

"The ranking is important, but we are talking about a player who has won 16 Grand Slams and I've won 10," Nadal said.

"We have played a lot of matches together, many in very important moments for our careers. So the matches against him are always special, even if we are (ranked) 20 against 25."

Defending women's champion Kim Clijsters, still dealing with a left ankle injury, advanced to an Australian Open semi-final against third-seeded Victoria Azarenka by beating No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 7-6 (4) yesterday. Clijsters' victory ensured that Wozniacki would lose the top ranking she has held for most of the last 15 months.

Azarenka beat No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (0), 6-0, 6-2. Azarenka is one of three women who could finish at No. 1 in Melbourne - Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are the others.

In the late match, Nadal saved four set points in the first set, including one on an amazing crosscourt passing shot on the 29th point of a rally. But Berdych held firm to win the ensuing tie-breaker.

During the tiebreaker, a Berdych shot landed out and Nadal returned it, then challenged. Chair umpire Carlos Bernardes wouldn't allow the challenge because Nadal hadn't immediately stopped play, but Nadal responded by saying he didn't challenge immediately because he thought the linesman had called it out.

The replay showed the ball was out.

"Carlos, I'll tell you something, you never get one right, not one correct overrule," Nadal said in Spanish. 'You're not here as a spectator. You know that ball was out."

Nadal was still debating the issue at his post-match news conference.

Later in the match, Bernardes had a brief discussion with Berdych when the Czech player complained about an apparent 'flat' ball. And in the fourth set, Nadal chastised the chair umpire again for allowing a challenge by Berdych, feeling the Czech player waited too long before asking for a review.

The quarter-finals on the other side of the men's draw are today - Andy Murray plays Kei Nishikori of Japan and top-seeded Novak Djokovic takes on David Ferrer.

In the remaining women's quarter-finals today, Sharapova plays Ekaterina Makarova, who beat five-time champion Serena Williams in the fourth round, and No. 2 Kvitova takes on unseeded Sara Errani of Italy.