Andy Murray’s bid for a first Grand Slam title received a huge boost today when potential semi-final opponent Roger Federer crashed out of the US Open.
The British No1 recovered from a set and 5-1 down against Marin Cilic to reach the last four and, just three hours later, world No1 Federer was knocked out by sixth seed Tomas Berdych.
Federer beat Murray in the Wimbledon final in July before the Scot demolished him in last month’s Olympic final but it will be a huge relief for him to be facing Berdych rather than the Swiss on Saturday.
However, the Czech, who saw off Federer 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, has beaten Murray in four of their six meetings and warned: “Andy probably doesn’t like my game too much.”
Murray beat Cilic 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-0 and, with Rafael Nadal unable to play because of injury and top seed Federer no longer an issue, he has a great chance to give Britain a first men’s Slam champion since 1936.
He will be wary of the power hitting which sent Federer home and said: “Tomas is a huge, huge hitter. Even if you want to dictate points and be aggressive, he can take that away from you because he’s such a powerful guy.
“I’ll fight from the first point and if I do that, I’ll give myself a shot.”
