Tennis – Australian Open – Quarter Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 28, 2020 – Switzerland’s Roger Federer waves as he leaves the court after winning his match against Tennys Sandgren of the U.S. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Roger Federer saved seven match points on his way to an enthralling 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6(8) 6-3 comeback victory over American world number 100 Tennys Sandgren to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Federer won the first set but Sandgren rallied to bag the next two against the error-prone Swiss, who received a code violation warning for obscene language and took a lengthy medical timeout during the third set.
Federer’s movement seemed restricted but the 20-times Grand Slam winner and six-time champion at Melbourne Park carried on and saved seven match points in the fourth set before winning the tiebreaker to force a decider.
Federer, who got involved in a lengthy argument with Serbian chair umpire Marijana Veljovic during the ill-tempered third set, converted his first matchpoint and will meet either Milos Raonic or Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.
Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford
