ROGER FEDERER STEAMROLLED his way into the semi-finals of the Brisbane International with a 39-minute demolition of Australian wildcard James Duckworth on Friday.
Federer barely raised a sweat as he won 6-0, 6-1, a total transformation from the player almost eliminated by unknown Australian John Millman on Thursday night.
He raced through the first set in just 16 minutes and the second in 23, with Duckworth not getting on the board until the third game of the second set.
Federer hit 24 clean winners past Duckworth, who couldn’t manage any against the 17-time Grand Slam winner as he endured a miserable evening at Pat Rafter Arena.
The world number two won 90 percent of his first serves and fired down 12 aces to demolish Duckworth, ranked 123 places below him.
“I was very happy the way I played. I played aggressive, served well, and then especially on the return I kept the pressure on time and time again,” Federer said.
“Next thing you know, it was like I was running away with the score. Then he got into a situation which then clearly is very difficult at six-love, two-love.
“You’re playing against the score and not to get back into the match anymore almost, it’s very frustrating to be in that situation.
“I took advantage of it, and I’m happy I had a match like this after yesterday.”
Federer will now play fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals following the Bulgarian’s solid 6-3, 6-4 win over Slovakian Martin Klizan.
Second seed Kei Nishikori underlined how far he has progressed over the past 12 months with a 58-minute win over Australian hope Bernard Tomic.
Nishikori will take on Canada’s Milos Raonic for a place in Sunday’s final.
Third-seeded Raonic won the battle of the big servers when he downed Australian Sam Groth 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/2).
