Roger Federer made it 14 semi-final appearances from his last 15 visits to Melbourne Park and is yet to drop a set after beating Tomas Berdych for the third successive year.
Next the defending champion will face South Korea’s Chung Hyeon, who won the battle of the unseeded players against Tennys Sandgren.
Former champion Angelique Kerber and world number one Simona Halep set up a mouthwatering semi-final after dominating their respective matches against Madison Keys and Karolina Pliskova.
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Scrambled
After meeting Gordon Ramsay on Wednesday, Kyle Edmund revealed he is a fan of the chef but will not be following too many of his recipes. “I’ve watched lots of his shows, he is really funny on TV,” said the 23-year-old. “I’m not a massive cook myself, but I always watch it. Whenever he is on those talk shows and makes a scrambled egg, I try to do it at home. Unfortunately he uses so much butter, which tastes really good – but it’s not great for a tennis player.” Beat Marin Cilic, though, and Ramsay says dinner is on him. “He is allowed to have butter, and cream.”
Shoe fashion
Federer likes to tailor his fashion to each grand slam venue, including putting the number of times he has won the relevant tournament on his shoes. At the Australian Open, that means the number ‘5’ accompanied by a representation of Flinders Street station. Federer used to have an icon of the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup but he is no longer allowed to use it by the tournament. He said: “I like the station even though Norman is a good friend now.”
Thursday highlights
Edmund’s big night arrives when he takes to Rod Laver Arena for his maiden grand slam semi-final against Cilic.
The day session will feature the two women’s semi-finals, with Caroline Wozniacki hoping to reach her first Australian Open final against unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens before Halep takes on Kerber.
In the boys’ singles, Scotland’s Aidan McHugh will attempt to reach his first grand slam semi-final when he takes on Rinky Hijikata of Australia.
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