Roger Federer admitted that he was “incredibly lucky” after pulling off one of the greatest escapes of his career yesterday, saving seven match points to beat Tennys Sandgren of the US for a place in the Australian Open semi-finals.
In a dramatic match, the typically ice-cool Swiss was slapped with a warning for swearing and needed a rare medical timeout for a groin injury before winning 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-3.
“I don’t deserve this one, but I’m standing here and obviously very happy,” said Federer, 38, who became the oldest man in 43 years to make the last four at Melbourne Park after Ken Rosewall.
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“I just said [to myself while losing], I believe in miracles,” he said. “I got incredibly lucky tonight, today — I don’t even know what time it is.”
The victory was his 102nd at Melbourne Park, surpassing his tally at Wimbledon to make the Australian Open his most successful Slam in terms of matches won.
Federer said he felt the groin injury midway through the second set and was “upset about the pain I was feeling.”
In two decades of playing the Australian Open, he had never lost to a player ranked as low as Sandgren’s 100, with his biggest upset coming against 54th-ranked Arnaud Clement way back in 2000.
The unheralded Sandgren had shown he could be a danger to the 20-time Grand Slam winner, having already beaten eighth seed Matteo Berrettini and 12th seed Fabio Fognini — and he gave the Swiss star a massive scare.
Both players fought off break points against their opening service games as they sized each other up, but it was only a matter of time before Federer broke. It came in the sixth game as he began figuring out Sandgren’s game, forcing errors as he took the set.
However, Sandgren was not ready to surrender, breaking twice in the second set as Federer’s touch abandoned him, sending down 15 unforced errors.
Playing in the mid-afternoon sun, he continued to struggle in the third, broken in his opening service game with the crowd stunned into silence.
Federer was rattled. He worked three break points when 2-0 down and when Sandgren saved two of them, the Swiss was warned for an audible obscenity, reported by the line judge.
The normally unflappable star confronted the umpire and then lost three more points, again having words with the official before taking a near nine-minute medical timeout.
“I found it a bit tough,” he said of the penalty. “It’s not like I’m known to throw around words and whatever. It’s not like the whole stadium heard it either.”
Federer returned to hold serve, but his movement was hampered — and he never threatened, losing the set with another 15 unforced errors.
He grimly hung on in the fourth set, saving three match points at 5-4. It went to a tiebreaker, where more drama was in store as a ball kid collided with Sandgren at the changeover.
Federer incredibly saved another four match points before winning the tiebreak 10-8, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
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