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Federer faces familiar foe for Melbourne semi spot

MELBOURNE - Roger Federer is certain not to let sentiment get in the way when he meets his friend and compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka on the first day of quarter-final action at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

The 16-times grand slam winner suffered a few lapses in the first week of the year’s first grand slam, notably in a five-set thriller against Gilles Simon, but the prospect of a place in the last four for an eighth consecutive year is sure to sharpen his appetite for the contest on Rod Laver Arena.

Although the form book would suggest a comfortable win for the defending champion, Wawrinka believes he is playing the best tennis of his life going into the first grand slam quarter-final between two Swiss men since the sport turned professional.

The 19^th seed, who partnered Federer to Olympic gold in Beijing, will need to serve as well as he did in his fourth round victory over Andy Roddick if he is to have any chance of repeating his sole victory over the former world number one in seven previous meetings.

French Open champion Francesca Schiavone’s ability to recover from Sunday’s grand slam record four hour, 44 minute thriller against Svetlana Kuznetsova will be key to her last eight encounter with world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

Dane Wozniacki has played just five and a half hours in total over her four matches in reaching her first quarter-final at Melbourne Park and will be keen to avenge her defeat to the dogged Italian at the same stage of the French Open last year.

The final match on Rod Laver Arena pitches third seed Novak Djokovic against sixth seed Thomas Berdych in an intriguing contest between two players who picked up the pace nicely over the first week and had resounding fourth-round victories.

Djokovic, the 2008 champion here, has won their last two meetings but Czech Berdych triumphed in the one that mattered most last year, hammering the Serb with his forehand winners to reach the final at Wimbledon.

China’s Li Na gets a chance to repeat last year’s run to the last four at Melbourne Park in her quarter-final against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, who was impressive in her upset of Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

Li is a player who thrives on confidence and winning the title at the Sydney warm-up as well as a comfortable enough progression to the last eight has had her dreaming of a first grand slam title for her country.