Federer gives a survival lesson and qualifies for the Australian Open semifinals

The Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, world number 3, qualified on Tuesday for the semifinals of the Australian Open after beating American Tennys Sandgren (number 100) in five sets after saving seven game points in the fourth set.

The 38-year-old Swiss, who visibly suffered some physical discomfort, won 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, in a match that lasted four hours. This laborious victory adds to the five sets and three hours and 31 minutes he needed to defeat Australian John Millman in the third round of the tournament.

“Today I had incredible luck, I improved my game as the game progressed and the pressure decreased,” Federer said he saved three match points when he lost 5-4 and then another four, three of them in a row, in the game. tie-breaker of that hard-fought fourth set.

“Today I didn't deserve the victory, but here I am and obviously very happy,” Federer added. “I just told myself: I believe in miracles,” he said, referring to the moment when defeat seemed inevitable.

All the more so because this Tuesday was not well physically. “Sometimes you feel weird. I felt a pain in the groin, my leg was tightening a little. I don't like to go to the doctor, I don't like to show my weaknesses,” Federer said.

In the second and third set, Federer became nervous and argued with the referee about a warning. Then he asked for a medical break and left the court when he was losing 6-3, 2-6, 0-3.

Overwhelmed in the second and third set, the Swiss miraculously won the fourth set and in the fifth he regained his tennis magic to sentence the match.

“We will have to play better in the semifinals, because if I don't have time to go skiing,” joked Federer when speaking on the court, immediately after the game. In the next round, he will face the winner of the duel between Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic.