Melbourne, January 24: Roger Federer was in a dictatorial form in overcoming Tomas Berdych in the Australian Open quarter-finals in Melbourne. The world number two and defending champion Federer reached his 14th Australian Open semi-final with a straight-sets victory 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-4 in the Rod Laver Arena.

It was their 10th meeting at Grand Slams and an eighth win for the Swiss player. Federer had not dropped a set in his first four matches but was uncharacteristically lagging at the start as Berdych took a 3-0 lead in the first set. However, the 19-time grand slam champion picked up his game to advance to his 43rd grand slam semifinals.

Federer will now face unseeded 21-year-old Hyeon Chung of South Korea in the last four on Friday.  Britain's Kyle Edmund takes on sixth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia in the first semi-final at 08:30 GMT on Thursday.