Federer to face Djokovic in Australia semi

MELBOURNE, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- World No. 2 Roger Federer will go against third-seeded Novak Djokovic, who both won in straight sets Tuesday, in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Federer knocked out 19th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 before Djokovic eliminated No. 6 Tomas Berdych 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in quarterfinal play. Thursday's semifinal pairing will mark the 10th time in 20 meetings that Federer and Djokovic will play in a tournament semifinal or finals.

Federer owns a 13-6 match advantage over Djokovic, including wins the last three times they played. Djokovic was a five-set winner over Federer in the semifinals of the U.S. Open last year for his most recent win over Federer.

Djokovic has lost only one set -- losing a second-set tiebreaker in the third round -- en route to the semifinals. Only the second set was close Tuesday, with Djokovic suffering his lone service break of the match but then being able to control the tiebreaker. He had two breaks in the third set, the second one worth a 5-1 lead.

Federer faced only one break point against Wawrinka, while finishing off five of his seven break opportunities. He won 73 percent of the points on serve. Wawrinka hadn't lost a set in the tournament but Federer ended that string with a 29-minute first set Tuesday in which he won 64 percent of the points.

The semifinal in the top half of the men's bracket is to be decided Wednesday when world No. 1 Rafael Nadal plays seventh-seeded David Ferrer and fifth-seeded Andy Murray goes against unseeded Alexandr Dolgopolov.