Federer in mood to breeze past Djokovic

ROGER FEDERER has been near to impeccable in this US Open. He has not dropped a set or wasted a breath. He has dismissed the treacherous winds as no more than another challenge and is so fiercely focused on Sunday’s final that the only threat to his equilibrium is the unlikely prospect of his looking past the match he needs to win in order to get his hands on the trophy for a sixth time.

Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals is hardly a pushover, whatever the tide that is lifting Federer back to the top after a rare hiatus.

Against an implausibly wild quarter-final challenge by Gael Monfils, the third seed was like a lighthouse in a storm, safe from all hazards. He was as calm and intelligent as the Frenchman was pumped up and reckless.

So the elements will be no impediment for the Serb against the Swiss in their semi-final, a match anticipated almost as much as the final. “He’s had to go through me the past three times here and he hasn’t managed it yet,” Federer said.

What Djokovic will confront is a rehabilitated genius. In last year’s final, Federer’s serve, implausibly, let him down against Juan Martin del Potro. Since then Federer’s game has slipped. He wins eight out of 10 matches and the matches he does give up are often on the fringes of the big time.

“I see it as a challenge and I see it as an opportunity to play differently,” Federer said of the wind, explaining it was not just his smooth service action that enabled him to tame the breeze but his ability to make last-second adjustments. “I’ve got a good service motion,” he said. “It doesn’t affect my concentration. You get the occasional bad toss because the wind catches the ball, so you have to stop the motion. When it’s windy, I don’t struggle because my second serve is reliable. I don’t panic or double-fault much.”

Alongside 18 aces, he hit two double-faults to Soderling’s four on Wednesday; Djokovic hit four to six by Monfils. So, if the weather forecast is right, the semi-final could be decided on the whim of the wind – not to mention the genius of Federer.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki will hope to use her boxing training to deliver another knockout performance in tonight’s women’s semi-finals. Wozniacki has dropped just 17 games in setting up a last-four clash with Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, the seventh seed joining top three seeds Wozniacki, Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams in the semi-finals.

The 20-year-old Dane uses boxing training to get in shape for tennis and her counter-punching style is proving effective as she looks to go one better than last year, when she lost to Clijsters in the final. “Boxing is just a different way for me to work out,” explained Wozniacki, who has a 19-1 win-loss record since Wimbledon. “I wanted to try something different, something that was not the usual things. I just love the training. It’s great. It’s really hard not only physically, but also the conditioning. There are similarities, you need fast arms, fast feet. Mikkel Kessler, the Danish boxer, is one of my friends as well. I support him when I can. And Joe Calzaghe, when he was boxing I thought he was really great because he was so fast. It’s amazing how he was boxing.”

Zvonareva will be no pushover after reaching the Wimbledon final where she lost to Serena Williams, who is absent from New York with a foot injury. “I think Caroline’s got enough experience right now,” the seventh seed said. “She’s very mature for her age and I think a lot of people are underestimating her. She’s doing her job very, very well.”

Wozniacki won the pair’s last meeting in the final in Montreal recently, Zvonareva adding: “In Montreal I think I just couldn’t find my game. I think I had to play Victoria (Azarenka) in the morning (due to a weather delay) and they have absolutely different styles of game, Victoria and Caroline. It was very difficult for me just to change the mindset and switch to another match.”

At 30, Williams is by far the oldest of the four remaining players, but semi-final opponent Clijsters believes the American is benefiting from a long injury lay-off which meant she did not play between Wimbledon and the US Open. “I think the way she’s been playing and the way she has mentally looked, I think it’s maybe even been good for her to have been away for that long, because she looks more hungry than ever,” defending champion Clijsters said.

- Guardian Service