Nadal, Federer through to Australian semis

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal battled for more than four hours Tuesday before winning in four sets and moving into the Australian Open semifinals where he'll face Roger Federer.

Nadal, the world No. 2-ranked player, fought off a point that would have put him down two sets and rallied for a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-3 win over second-seeded Tomas Berdych. Nadal improved to 11-3 lifetime versus Berdych.

Neither player led by more than one point in the first-set tiebreaker until Berdych won the last two points for the set. Berdych won three consecutive games in the second set to erase a 2-5 deficit and was up 6-5 in the tiebreaker when Nadal won three straight to even the match.

Nadal posted a break in a 12-point game early in the third set and broke Berdych's serve the opening game of the fourth set to get an edge. Nadal, who faced 13 break points in the match, saw just four Berdych break points the rest of the way. He broke Berdych at love to complete the match in four hours, 16 minutes.

Federer earned his ninth consecutive trip to the Australian Open semifinals with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over 11th-seeded Juan Martin del Potro. Federer lost his serve just once and had five breaks against del Potro, who had dropped just one set in getting to the quarterfinals.

Federer won three-quarters of the points on serve including 89 percent when he landed his first serve.

Nadal is 17-9 in his career against Federer. He won three of their four meetings in 2011 with Federer winning the last time they played. Included in Nadal's wins is a five-set victory over Federer in the 2009 Australian Open final.

No. 1-ranked and defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic goes against fifth-seeded David Ferrer in one quarterfinal Wednesday with No. 4 Andy Murray, who lost to Djokovic in the 2011 final, meeting 24th-seeded Kei Nishikori in the other.