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WHEN Rafael Nadal followed Roger Federer out of the Australian Open yesterday, losing in straight sets to Tomas Berdych, an excellent player who nevertheless had not beaten him in their previous 17 encounters, a pall fell over the tournament, but not over the Czech’s ever-smiling face.For two sets, Nadal played as if in a trance, winning just two games in two sets in the first hour, before fighting as hard as his obviously malfunctioning body enabled him to in extending the agony to a tie-break in the third. He was sluggish, non-plussed, under-powered and thoroughly outclassed.

After two hours and 33 minutes of absorbing theatre, Berdych wrapped it up 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) to go through to the semi-finals. He was so clearly the better player on this day of days for him and might yet reach his second slam final.

Novak Djokovic will contest his 23rd consecutive grand slam quarter-final after easing past Luxembourg’s Gilles Müller 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 at the Australian Open.
Djokovic was pushed by the 42nd-ranked Müller, a big-serving left-hander who had the shots to rally with the top seed, but the four-times champion was almost bullet-proof on serve and cut the 31-year-old down repeatedly when he rushed to the net.

“Definitely what stands out is the serve,” the Serb said. “I got a lot of aces, got a lot of free points there. I managed to play some good passing shots. I was trying just to make him play an extra shot because he takes the time away from the opponent. That’s something that obviously encourages me for the rest of the tournament … overall (it) was a good performance.“

Andy Murray, playing the sort of disciplined tennis he refined under Ivan Lendl and has slowly rediscovered with Amélie Mauresmo, turned back the passionate challenge of the outstanding Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios in straight sets to reach his fifth semi-final in 10 visits to the Australian Open.

There he will meet Tomas Berdych, coached now by Dani Vallverdu, who parted company with Murray only two months ago. It should be an interesting encounter, to say the least.

Murray need all his best tennis in tough conditions to beat Kyrgios 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in just over two hours in front of a packed Rod Laver Arena.

“It was a tricky match, pretty windy, tough for both of us,” he said. “I tried to start as quickly as possible because I know how dangerous Nick is. He’s a huge hitter so I tried to keep it out of his strike zone and also it was windy tonight, so I used a lot of slice.

“Try not to put too much pressure on him. He needs to be allowed to mature and develop. Growing up in the spotlight isn’t easy and he’s doing a great job so far. He’s got a world-class serve and an easy motion, so he doesn’t put any stress on his body. Not many people have reached three quarter-finals at slams at his age (in fact only two). Berdych is another big, big hitter of the ball. I don’t think he’s dropped a set.”

Kyrgios had won a new title before he hit a ball, announced as the Wonder From Down Under, to go with the Wild Thing, a crown only recently bestowed by the tournament broadcaster, Channel 7. — The Guardian