Angelique Kerber, Andy Murray eliminated in the Australian Open

As befitting his status as a 17-time Grand Slam champion and as an astute judge of the sport, Roger Federer’s reply to a simple question about his next opponent was handled with the same aplomb as one of his stylish groundstrokes.

Kei Nishikori said Roger Federer was playing at his peak again following injury after he was bundled out of the Australian Open by the Swiss maestro on Sunday. “He’s feeling great. Probably feels the best he’s ever felt on a tennis court”, Federer said. “That’s new, that hasn’t happened in many years and maybe that’s good for tennis”. He’s fast on his legs. “He finds his range and his rhythm, he’s tough to stop”.

Federer has been such an extraordinary player that he has all but lost the ability to shock with his feats on court. “This was before I saw the (tough) draw”, he said.

Murray was far from his best against the unheralded left-hander, struggling with his second serve and growing increasingly frustrated by his seeming inability to read the German’s play. “The French team said they were ready to go to war, if I can quote them”. “Honestly there were a few points where I don’t know how I pulled it off”. “I have to say thank you to him quite a lot”, he said.

“It was about staying with him. nearly going down 6-0, I thought ‘It’s not going to get any worse from there, ‘” said Federer, on the comeback from six months on the sidelines to fix his injured left knee. “Happy to see him back 100 percent”.

Neither player wanted to elaborate but Wawrinka admitted: “You can have some tension during the match between players”.

Murray, a five-time beaten finalist, will be aware that he lost his best chance of winning the Australian Open.

Federer, who has not won a Grand Slam title since triumphing at Wimbledon in 2012, had been sidelined by a knee injury throughout the second half of a year ago and has slipped from third in the world to 17th.

“I don’t know. It was just incredible”.

Zverev hopes to possibly rile the often volatile Murray.

“I thought he played an incredible tournament, beating [John] Isner and Andy [Murray]”. If someone would have told me I’d play in the semis against Stan, never would I have called that one for me. “Of course, I’m the big favorite in this match“. She will take on the unseeded Coco Vandeweghe, the woman who eliminated top seed Angelique Kerber in the fourth round.

It is an intriguing match-up as the all-time great sizes up his long-term accomplice Wawrinka, with much on the line. “I feel like it’s a very different mindset you need to have as a serve and volleyer”.

Hitting 30 winners to six, the 25-year-old advanced to just her second career slam quarter-final where she will play Spanish seventh seed Garbine Muguruza.

Zverev, a player who relies heavily on his serve-and-volley game, has already taken out John Isner and Malek Jaziri, besides upsetting Murray, and is viewed by many analysts as a wild card favourite to win the first Grand Slam of 2017.