Federer marches on

Roger Federer has booked his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a straight sets victory over James Blake.

Blake proved a resilient opponent, but the mental toughness of the world number one was telling at crucial moments of the game.

Federer nicked the first set by breaking the American's serve in the crucial 12th game and then won a second-set tie-break after the pair had traded breaks of serve earlier in the early games.

That setback seemed to affect Blake who was broken again earlier in the third set and was unable to recover.

Federer went on to win the match 7-5, 7-6(7/5), 6-4.

Earlier third seed, Novak Djokovic survived a late bout of nerves to beat Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer 6-0 6-3 7-5.

The Serbian missed four match points and was broken when serving for victory but recovered to set up a semi-final against Federer.

Djokovic said: "I even surprised myself the way I played, especially in the first two sets.

"It's an amazing feeling. I have now more experience and I play with more patience, that was one of the goals.

"I always try to improve and I am very happy I am performing my best in the big tournaments. This is just a start. Hopefully I can go all the way."

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