Roger Federer ended his mini-slump against Nikolay Davydenko, ending the Russian’s 13-match winning streak that included two wins over the Swiss maestro with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 win Wednesday in the Australian Open semifinals.
The win ensures that Federer will retain the No. 1 ranking on Monday for a 268th week, tying Jimmy Connors for third place in the all-time list. He trails only Ivan Lendl (270 weeks) and Pete Sampras (286 weeks) and appears poised to break that record later this year. The win also continues one of the greatest records in tennis as Federer reached a Grand Slam semifinal for a 23rd consecutive tournament.
The 15-time major tournament champion trailed 6-2, 3-1, 15-40 on his serve, before rebounding to win 13 straight games to take control of the match.
Said Federer in his post-match press conference, “I wasn’t panicking, even though I maybe would have lost the second set had I lost another point there at that stage. But, you know, I just relaxed and thought, you know, maybe if the sun goes and his level drops just a little bit, the whole thing might, you know, change for the better. It did. I couldn’t believe the way it changed. But I’m happy the way I was able to go on an incredible run and get the cushion with the extra break at the beginning of the fourth.”
Federer won his 12 matches against Davydenko, before losing to the Russian in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour semifinals in London last November and in Doha, Qatar earlier this month.
Federer will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals Friday. Tsonga beat Novak Djokovic 7-6 (8), 6-7 (5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in Wednesday’s late quarterfinal, avenging his loss to Djokovic in the Australian Open final played exactly two years to the day of their 2010 quarterfinal. Andy Murray and Marin Cilic will compete in the other men’s semifinal on Thursday night in Melbourne.