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Roger Federer took another giant stride towards tennis immortality with an at-times breathtaking Australian Open semifinal win over Andy Roddick last night.
Federer outgunned Roddick 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 to close to within one tantalising victory of equalling Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles.
The Swiss freak will now await the winner of tonight's all-Spanish semifinal between world No 1 Rafael Nadal and 14th seed Fernando Verdasco.
Knowing the fiercely competitive Federer, he will be hoping it is Nadal who joins him for his date with destiny on Sunday night.
The two great rivals have fought out six of the past 11 grand slam finals, with Nadal holding a 4-2 edge in major deciders.
Who better for Federer to conquer than the man who stole his long-held top ranking and Wimbledon crown from him last year.
Contesting his 19th consecutive grand slam semifinal - another of his countless records - Federer at times toyed with Roddick last night.
He nabbed the first set with two easy service breaks in just 32 minutes and yet was even more comfortable in the second, despite almost being pushed into a tiebreaker.
The three-times champion conceded a meagre three points in six service games for the set and took a stranglehold on the match when he pocketed the set on a Roddick backhand error.
Growing increasingly frustrated as his title hopes slipped further and further away, Roddick engaged in a running battle with chair umpire Enric Molina and, at one stage after disagreeing with a call, told the Spanish official to "have some sack, dude".
His taunt, though, and anything else he tried didn't work as Federer struck again with another demoralising 11th-game break in the third set to complete his 16th job on Roddick in two hours and seven minutes.
No one has beaten Roddick more times, the seventh seed's only consolation being that he won more than the paltry six games he managed against his nemesis in their 2007 semifinal mismatch.
Earlier, Serena Williams finally hit form to oust Olympic champ Elena Dementieva and move into her fourth Australian Open final.
Now one more Russian, Dinara Safina, stands between Williams and a 10th Grand Slam title.
Williams, who won the Australian title in 2003, 2005 and 2007, played her best match of the tournament in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dementieva yesterday.
"I haven't moved like that for a while, so I was a little shocked," said Williams, still leaving room for improvement. "A perfect match for me? Oh, no, no, no. But it was definitely better."
She'll get her chance to extend the alternate-year sequence of titles when she meets No 3-ranked Safina, who beat fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semifinal. The winner of tomorrow night's final will also earn the No 1 ranking.
- AAP, AP