Men's First Semi-Final Australian Open Tennis

Hello, the Australian Open has reached the semifinal stage and the

Swiss are on a roll. Roger Federer, winner of 17 Grand Slam titles,

takes on compatriot Stan Wawrinka, who has three majors to his name.

For one of them, another place in a Grand Slam final weights. Tennis,

like life, is all about timing. -- a place in a Grand Slam final weights.

Time and time again... COMMENTATOR: Back in the big time.

True tennis greatness. The third Swiss to win a major. At times, this

performance was genius. He can absolutely batter the ball. Pure

delight for the whole of Switzerland. What a time to do it.

The greatest of all time? We can expect precision timing over

the next hour. We have that match coming up. Before the two Swiss

greats came unto God, we went back in time to honour one of the greats

of the past, Australian Rod Laver. The only player to have one tennis's

Grand Slam twice was honoured with the order of Australia.

Federer has had the better of their meetings, he has won all 13 of their

hard court meetings. They will see their own pictures along the

corridor as they make their way out onto court. 20 Grand Slam between

them and Federer has the lion's share, with 17, but Wawrinka's three

have all come since Federer's last one.

Your commentators are Andrew Castle and John Wood.

COMMENTATOR: I'm not sure there's any future in trying to take a high

ball on the backhand side. There are many times he struggled with Rafael

Nadal on that one. If there is any area of weakness, even a marginal

one, it could be up high on the backhand side.

You can see how early Federer is trying to take this ball in the

rally, he is trying to get ahead of his opponent quickly in these

points. The timing has to be absolutely precise. He has missed

two backhands in this game in trying to do that.

As soon as he has lost that point, though, at 0-15, 15-30 can he

serve-volleys. It's all very aggressive at the moment. Watching a

35-year-old Roger Federer with all his talent and records, watching him

trying to find a way against this US Open champion, it's quite thrilling.

There have been so many years when it came so easily for Federer,

everybody dismissed with a wave of the magic wand of his right hand.

But now you sense that he is hanging on and he wants another major

highlight, but he has got trouble here. As the camp Luxon, a break

point at a time to Wawrinka. I mean, that is virtually a

half-volley on a break point down! Yes he was moving onto the ball and

it was short and Wawrinka will be disappointed, but to take that ball

on, to get your opponent on the run, as Federer did, break point down...

Courageous. He may not have age on his side,

Federer, but he has a record on his side that Irene Coe will be aware

of. Federer has won 13 and lost none against Wawrinka on hard courts.

UMPIRE: Federer is challenging the call on the right baseline. I

thought Wawrinka might have challenged earlier on on the second

serve actually, but he didn't. This ball was moving quickly. It went

through the air fast and landed either on the line or just behind.

Federer has stopped the rally, and he was right to do so. And that is a

well held game. 6-5 Federer, first set.

And he has threaded the ball down the line, Federer, who saved a break

point in the previous game. By correctly challenging a ground

stroke by Wawrinka on his own baseline, he might have stopped this

rally earlier. Threads the line, beautiful.

Oh! That is a great response from Wawrinka. Not an easy poll, John.

Heavy forehand from Federer. Again, this aggressive mode he is income

coming in. Took that just early enough to be able to dip its down

low, create that winner. LINE JUDGE: Out!

UMPIRE: The ball was called out. Mr Wawrinka challenging the call. Both

players came in absolutely ready. Federer had beaten Berdych and

Nishikori in five sets. Wawrinka has felt the fire, he beat Martin Klizan

in five sets in the first round. So, these are the moments that

decide a match. LINE JUDGE: Out! This is a vital

challenge, this one. Federer looked a little bit unsure himself, from

his reaction after this ball. This is big.

Having saved a break point in the previous game, Roger Federer with a

set point. Cheeky slice down the line, changing

direction and changing the spin! Federer has nicked the first set and

that is what it was, 50 minutes and seven games to five in this

committee 's 41st Grand Slam semifinal. The old man is doing

well. STUDIO

First blood to the four-time champion Federer. How will Wawrinka

react? Here he is 3-2 down on serve in the second set.

Well, it was close. Federer so aggressive on that serve, four feed

inside the baseline taking that second serve. Yes, court it -- he

caught it. CHEERING

That is amazing. It's hard to believe, looking at this match, that

Roger Federer could sort of bully someone like Stan Wawrinka, but that

is what his game plan has been, to be extremely aggressive, take the

ball on early, serve and volley, mix it up and not give Wawrinka time to

breathe, and that is what has been happening so far. It is a 99th match

at the Australian Open for Roger Federer. Only Jimmy Connors has

played 100 in a slam, in fact he did it at Wimbledon and the US Open. He

has been around a bit, Roger Federer. And this vast wealth of

experience, and we've been talking about that slice and that chip

backhand from Federer, the slice down the line just changing the look

to Wawrinka, it won him the first set and now it has brought him to

break at a key moment. Stan Wawrinka on a 12 match winning

streak at these Grand Slam championships. The last man to beat

him at a slam, Juan Martin del Potro at Wimbledon in the second round.

So, the reigning US Open champion under the cosh, second point.

And the racket takes a hammering and you can understand why. Wawrinka now

a set and they break down and the dream lives on for Federer. Six

months away from the game coming into this. What a story Roger

Federer is creating here. We didn't know whether he could win

back-to-back matches over five sets against the big guys. But the

victory over Berdych in straights and then Nishikori in five has got

Federer believing. There's a bit of eight, whatever the substance is,

holding that together. It's an automatic warning. It's a bit of a

silly system for me. He hasn't harmed anybody, apart from the

racket. I could do that, titanium knees, no problem!

APPLAUSE I'm not sure there's ever been a

better front runner in the game than Roger Federer. Just hitting the

surface and zipping into the back fence.

He has just tapped his knee there, I'm not sure if that was the knee he

used to break that racket, but... Federer only played seven tour

events last year. He injured his knee a day after the semifinal of

the Australian Open, so a year ago, he had arthroscopic knee surgery in

February and carried on until Wimbledon, the semifinal for him.

Then he called it quits. So, six months without hitting a ball. Most

people would take three or four weeks, or even months, to get back

to winning ways. But he just slotted straight back in. Incredible.

Well, how can BOOING

-- how can Wawrinka respond to this? For consecutive games for Roger

Federer, a set and 5-2 up in this semifinal. Akram Byas seats quickly,

please, thank you. UMPIRE: Seats, quickly, please.

Thank you. Stan Wawrinka, who has won all three

of his Grand Slam championships since Roger Federer last won is,

which was the 2012 Wimbledon, the match against Andy Murray, where

Andy cried at the end, you remember? Stan has had such great success, he

will rise to number three in the world by the end of this tournament.

But he has a mountain to climb here. A set and 5-2 down.

Federer is just charging in where ever he feels like! I thought he had

no chance there and he actually should have made that volley. The

easiest folly he has had in this match, he has lobbied superbly other

than that one. He just needs to keep concentrating. It's almost as though

he has just taken his foot off the gas and he is preparing for the next

service game. Some players approach the match in that way, Jimmy Connors

never used to. But Federer constructs his matches in a slightly

different way. It can be dangerous to just see the

momentum to the other player in this situation -- to just cede momentum

to the other player. So Federer will be pleased he won that point. Former

world number two there and an Australian Open semifinalist in

2000. He has done a fantastic job with

Stan Wawrinka, but they might need to work on the rallies! He is

forcing himself to come in a bit more now, Wawrinka, to try to take

the net away from Federer. It's not a place he's very comfortable with.

It was in 2000 where his coach, Magnus Norman, made the semifinal,

and Federer picked up his first Grand Slam win, at this tournament,

17 years ago. But he wants to forget all about that now and concentrate

on what is at hand, the chance of going to sets to love up.

Wawrinka's parents and agent, as well as coach, there.

Amazing! A hold to love, two sets to love now for Mr Federer.

Wawrinka really up against it now and also struggling with a knee

injury and having a medical time-out at the end of the second set. Let's

join it with Federer two sets to love up and serving at 1-2.

APPLAUSE Well, three break points! How

quickly it turns around. Something for the Wawrinka box to get stuck

into, here. Had those break points in the first set.

CHEERING And that's it! Game on in this third

set. First break to Wawrinka. And Wawrinka broke again to wrap up the

first set -- the third set 6-1. We rejoin the action in the fourth at

3-4 with Wawrinka serving. STUDIO

COMMENTATOR: Two games from the final, you could say. This is a

risky challenge. UMPIRE: Federer has two challenges

remaining. It stays struck, doesn't it, when he

hits it, Stan? Strength in the core. And the legs as well.

APPLAUSE A bit fortunate, there. Both players

on their second serves in this set. It has been better in this set. It

has been pretty consistent throughout.

APPLAUSE Back to 30-0, aided by that

magnificent overhead, yes, but the net cord, the previous point.

Wawrinka could be heading out the exit more ways than one in a moment.

One of the umpires there on the right, he does such a -- such a

great job over the years with this tournament, to build it.

He's not a choker, Stan Wawrinka. He has won too many big matches for

that. That slow, sliced ball staying low

has given him all sorts of troubles today. Not enough players play it.

Federer used it on the backhand side to win the first set with that poke

down the line. First-class hold. Stan Wawrinka is a

man that you have to beat, he's not going to give it away, not at this

stage in his career, with the periods he has got as well. So that

was excellent -- with the experience he has got as

well. So now the pressure reverts, as is the nature of this sport.

That so good. Thrust out forehand from behind the baseline. Clean

winner. Further in trouble. That was deep. Further not expecting that

kind of reply. -- Federer. Superb, isn't it? What a test. 4-4,

fourth set, 0-40. It can all happened so quickly. A little

opportunity in the previous game that may have offered him I thought

of the winning line, now he's under pressure.

APPLAUSE Handy serve.

Easy hit, he would be thinking he should have blocked it. He's got it!

Federer should have done more with a backhand volley really. Wawrinka

kept his eye on the ball and just used his own wonderful hands to

guided crosscourt. -- guide it. Now Wawrinka will serve to take us to a

fifth set. For the second time in this fourth set of the stream Open

semifinal, Wawrinka has a break of serve, the other time was away

earlier in the set, the first game. -- Australian Open semifinal. This

time he's serving for the fifth set. This is an absolute demonstration in

mon Stan Wawrinka has become. A very hard man to beat. And the very

biggest tournaments. In the lower down tournaments he can show up or

not but in these big tournaments, he's the man right now. US Open

champion. And that's it. We are going to a

fifth and deciding set. Wawrinka strong in the last two sets. Winning

6-1, 6-4. He has never beaten Roger Federer on a hard court. If he does

so now, he'll go through to play the winner of Nadal and Dimitrov. It's

all on the fifth. STUDIO: The Stirling matches going

into fifth and final set, Federer took a medical time-out for

treatment on his leg before the decider, lets pick it up at 2-2 with

Federer serving. Brilliant return of serve. Must say

congratulations to Andy for winning the quad doubles again, the fifth

time for him. Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewitt

involved still in the final of the doubles competition.

Yeah, Rod Lever clapping that. I used to do that every ball! Serve

and volley. anything short, anything in that

area around the middle of the court, just beyond the service line and

bouncing up just gets dispatched. Wawrinka, who was two sets down. Can

he bridges in this game? 2-2, fifth set.

85-90 mph return. That's a lot of pays to generate.

Those rallies, those rallies. That's a Wawrinka pattern in this point of

the match, approaching three hours. But what can Federer do to stop it

becoming that? He's getting bludgeoned off the court. Magnus

Norman, former world number two, brilliant coach of Wawrinka.

Surprising. Did not expect to see that.

Normally handles that height so well on the backhand.

Remember him winning Wimbledon against Philippoussis with an

overhead similar to the second one. More a high volley.

Break points saved again. Roger Federer, the legend hanging by a

thread. Pulling on all his resources. For all his years, this

is quite something. 3-2, fifth. There are so many statistics in

tennis, you can bandy them around all like but it comes down to heart

and soul and how to produce Europe best and magnify your strengths and

get out your opponents's weaknesses. Often forgotten it's a one-on-one

contest. You have to be flexible to find your way through these matches.

Federer has always been a thinker, a lot on his plate but he's 3-2 up.

Federer is ranked number 17 in the world at the moment because he took

those six months. Fell out of the top ten in November.

He'd been in the top ten until November last year for a consecutive

734 weeks. Return there, short backswing.

Federer adjusted to the pace of Wawrinka's serve. Little opening

here. Federer, who has had to fight off

break points in two of his service games now has a couple of break

points to get ahead in this fifth. Pressure tells. What a poor service

game there. Well, we talk about the

single-handed backhand of Wawrinka being a thing of beauty, that wasn't

bad. What a serve. Second serve. Two

firsts to go 30-love up and a second there and the return after you

break. That's how to consolidate. There's the reaction. Probably the

first tournament since they'd been married, probables and expecting

much in these two weeks. -- probably wasn't. Amazing.

Remembering Jimmy Connors in 1991 in the US Open as a 39-year-old going

to the semifinal. 35-year-old Roger Federer hasn't played for six

months. Played the Hopman cup but that's an unofficial event. Hasn't

played since losing to Raonic, the Marin Cilic at Wimbledon in the

semifinal. Disappointing! He's come here having not played. A game away

from the final. Absolutely staggering performance. The

accumulation you felt right now he'd be feeling it. Played some great

sense so far, still got to close it out but Wawrinka is not going to go

away easily. You think he's nervous ahead of the next game, serving for

a place in the final? No. Bet he isn't. He's done it too many times.

Not lately. That's true. That's away. 41st Grand Slam

semifinal. That's ten years plus. He's won 27 of those semifinals, so

he's done it all before but this is unexpected.

OK. Well done Wawrinka, his previous service game put him in this

position. A couple of errors. He, himself on this Grand Slam match

winning streak. He won the US Open and now what?

Glorious reception. Federer steps to the line serving for a place in the

final. Fought and won- two punch that was

on the second serve. You kidding? And how was this would work for

moving back out to the left? He was virtually in the tramlines when he

hit that forehand. Absolute perfection so far on these two

service points. CHEERING

The word rape is bandied about too often but this is a great sportsman

and this is a great story. Top-class tournament from Stan

Wawrinka but it's all about Roger. And his 100th match at the

Australian Open will be the final having not played for six months. At

35 and it just might be against Rafa Nadal would be just too delicious

for words and even if it's against Grigor Dimitrov that would be just

fine as well. Fifth set, done a couple of break

points, tell us how you escape that and turned it all around. I don't

know how many break points I saved. Just two. It was tough I felt Stan

had the upper hand on the fifth in the baseline and he was reading my

serve well, something about him maybe being more relaxed, I knew I

had to stay in it somehow but if I played aggressive and connected on a

few returns all of a sudden it could turn round. I feel like he gave a

bit of a cheap break, not like I really deserve the that moment and

after that I did well and got it home and I couldn't be happier right

now. Sounds like you're not the only one who's happy. You're into your

sixth Australian Open final. After the six months off, what does this

mean to you to be back in a Grand Slam final again? And, following

everything happened so quickly at the end. It was disbelief, I had to

check the score. It's all real, I'm doing the interview. It feels

amazing. I never in my wildest dreams thought I was 20 becoming

this far here in Australia. Here I am, got a couple of days. It's all

happening. A record extending 28 Grand Slam

final for Roger Federer on Sunday. We'll find out tomorrow who his

opponent will be, will it be his old rival Rafa Nadal audible Grigor

Dimitrov strike a blow for the younger generation? The second

semifinal is on tomorrow. Either way it's going to be a dream

final on Sunday, Andrew and John are with me. What a comeback this has

been for Roger, you just kept thinking, has he reached its peak

early in the tournament? He seems to get better and better. The big test

for him after Wimbledon last year, we didn't see him at all, six months

away from tournament tennis. Most normal people forget how to play.

He's been hitting a few balls underrating us but to actually be in

a match situation and think clear enough and to get the job done is

fantastic. He wasn't sure whether he could play back-to-back best of five

set matches and here we are, the six matches, including the one against

Nishikori which is demanding and this one as well. It's a fabulous

story, one of the sports stories of the year and were not even out of

January yet and he hasn't won yet but for me to see this man who has

transcended the sport in so many ways still playing with youthful joy

and with exuberance, even if you don't love tennis, just watch this

because when he's not here any more were certainly going to look back

and say it was one of the greatest if not the greatest. Treasure him

when his, physically it was incredible but mentally, two sets

up, felt his back in the locker room and having to go to a fifth set,

mentally he did well. The first two says he was so aggressive, had a

game plan, coming in a lot more than we had seen him and Wawrinka has

that eighth minute time-out for the injury and he lost his way a bit was

that he loses the third and fourth and you think... Then he goes right

back to being aggressive again, a couple of little chance is Wawrinka

had but Federer got at him and he went back to his old plan again and

came back to be aggressive and took chances. It's remarkable. Six months

out, he's in the final of the Australian Open at 35. It's

staggering. You'll be happy to have a couple of days off, warranty? And

will be useful just spent some time with the kids, all of whom are now

ready to go skiing. They inform them mother and dad said give me a couple

of days, keep watching the tennis. Certainly been a wonderful turn of

comebacks and surprises, ended women's semifinals, yet another

wonderful storyline. Venus Williams at the age of 36 is true to her

first Grand Slam final for eight years, she beat fellow American Coco

Vandeweghe. You can see just how much it means to her. In the final

Venus will need a familiar face, sister Serena who beat Marianna

Baroni. The Croatian would be to -- won't be too disappointed. It's an

all Williams Grand Slam final for the ninth time on the first since

2009. That's on Saturday. It is an incredible storyline, John.

Probably expect Serena to be there but for Venus to be back in the

grand slam final. We expected with Venus that she was

capable of winning some good matches but to be in the finals of another

grand at her age. Identikit was possible and once again she's just

proved she still great, great player. Coming through injuries,

illness, so much, shows the love of the Williams sisters have for the

game. In their mid-30s and loving it as much as ever. The average age of

the semifinalists was 32.5, the average age of the finalists is

35.5. The two have been such dominant figures, none more so than

Serena who rises to the challenge every time. Angelique Kerber out

quite early on, everybody talking about Johanna Konta and Sarinah

dismisses her for the loss of five games and I thought Baroni would go

down the same way. Serena is the present. I think she just wonderful

player. Only thing in Venus's favour is that she's putting her sister and

maybe a little more generous at times. They had close matches, she

respected Venus much but when Serena starts, she's heavy favourite. I

give very much, it's been one fairy tale story at another after another

in Melbourne. The Williams sisters in the final and Roger Federer going

for grand slam title number 18. To break someone physically... Agh!

..is not a problem.