In the past, Federer has shown he can handle players older than him, though those numbers are getting smaller as Federer edges to 30 years of age.  He beat Juan Ignacio Chela, 7-6, 6-3 in the second round (he had a bye in the first), and beat Michael Llodra 7-6, 6-3 in the third round, both men about a year older than Roger Federer.

These two wins produced a quarterfinal that Roger desperately wanted to win.  Roger would face Tomas Berdych.  Berdych had won his last two meetings and was trying to make it three in a row, being only the third person to do so after Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian.

The last time they met, Federer said he had back and leg injuries.  Berdych seemed peeved at the suggestion that Roger was making excuses pointing out that all athletes play with some injury.  He thought Roger could at least be gracious in defeat, even if he wasn’t feeling 100%.  Federer said it took him about 10 days to feel right again, as he vacationed with his wife, and then he was back to training.  Berdych came into the match with his right leg taped up, so there was some concern whether he would be able to play a quality match.

Federer came out hitting topspin backhands and starting to be the player he was when he won the Australian Open.  Perhaps Federer was right.  The quality of his strokes may have been subpar due to injuries hampering his movement.  It’s happened before.  Ivan Lendl became more and more ineffectual as his back bothered him more.  Famous for moving to his right and hitting a passing shot down the line, Lendl became slower and found himself unable to reach those shots anymore and eventually retired, not playing tennis for another 15 years until he found a doctor who could bring him relief.

Federer took the first set comfortably, 6-3.  The second set was a tighter affair.  Twice, Federer had to dig himself out of 15-40 holes to hold his own serve.  Yet, he also had chances to break Berdych, and was unable to do so.  Down 6-5, Federer served to stay in the match and double-faulted twice and began mishitting, looking like Roger Federer of a few months ago, and Berdych took the second set, 7-5.  Berdych had beefed up his hitting, using more power to keep Federer from charging the net like he did in the first set.

At this point, the crowd started to pour its support to Roger Federer.  Things became tense when Roger Federer lost his serve early on and went down 4-1, then 5-2.  Federer held serve to 5-3 with Tomas Berdych ready to serve for the match.  Federer finally got a few aggressive returns back, and kept getting ad points while Berdych kept fighting it off, and finally, after several break points, managed to get the break and bring it to on serve, 5-4 down.  Both men would hold on serve to the tiebreak.

Federer started off with a lucky netcord return and got up 1-0 on Berdych’s serve, then held to 3-0, and then got a 4-1 lead by taking one of Berdych’s serve points when Berdych came in on a short ball and netted a relatively easy forehand volley.  Fans seemed to think the end was near and that Federer would get out of this mess.

Federer, however, gave both mini-breaks back due to errors.  Federer needed a big point where he hit a sharply angled inside-out forehand to Berdych’s backhand, and Berdych netted the shot.  Berdych then sliced a shot deep of the baseline on his own serve and Federer escaped with the win, winning the tiebreak 7 points to 5.  Berdych was upset at the crowd behavior but Graff, the chair umpire, refused to do more than just tell the crowd to be quiet.

Joining Federer in the semifinals is long-term rival, Rafael Nadal.  Nadal had to fight to win his match.  Nadal was making errors again similar to how he had played Wawrinka.  With Kohlschreiber serving big and playing aggressive, he took the first set 6-3.  However, Nadal started getting back into the match as he did against Wawa and took the second set, 6-3, and took the third set, 6-4, continuing his unbeaten head-to-head streak against Kohlschreiber.

Nadal had played his two previous matches at night, but because Kohlschreiber is in the doubles and because they usually schedule singles before doubles, they moved this match to the afternoon, and so Murray had to also play in the afternoon (so the two could get rest and play, presumably, the early semifinals tomorrow).  Federer and the winner of Djokovic-Chardy should play the evening match.

It’s now up to Djokovic to finish the deal and have the top 4 players in the semifinals for the first time in a long time.  Djokovic faces Jeremy Chardy.  Djokovic has never lost to Chardy in 4 matches, with 3 wins coming on hard courts, and all 4 matches being played in the last year or so.

Although today was Friday the 13th, it’s been the top seeds, so far, that have been unlucky for their opponents.  Should Djokovic reach the semis, he will face Roger Federer while Andy Murray will play Rafael Nadal.

So Federer finally escapes a tough match, and maybe it will be enough for him to reach the finals.  The Rogers Cup (not named after Roger) is heading to a pretty exciting conclusion.