Australian Open: Novak Djokovic stuns Roger Federer

The Serb, who beat Federer at the US Open in September, saw off the 16-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-4 in the first semi-final in Melbourne.

Andy Murray will play David Ferrer in the second semi at 0830 GMT on Friday.

And for the first time since Australia in 2008, a Grand Slam final will not feature Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.

That was the year that Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win his only major title to date, and then too he had ended Federer's hopes in the semi-finals.

This latest defeat ends a run of superb form from Federer that followed his five-set loss to Djokovic in New York four months ago, and included victory at the Tour Finals in London and in Doha at the start of this year.

Djokovic made a nervous start to Thursday's match, double-faulting twice as he offered up a break point in the opening game only to gather himself and see it off with a fine forehand.

The next 45 minutes saw precious little to choose between either man as both dominated on serve in a high-quality battle that had the packed night-time crowd enthralled on Rod Laver Arena.

It was Djokovic who made the initial breakthrough as he took command in the tie-break, grabbing the first mini-break at 2-1 and consolidating it with another after a heavy forehand into the corner for 5-2.

The third seed netted a backhand on his first set point but Federer returned the compliment on the following point, and Djokovic headed to the chair to the sound of the large Serb contingent celebrating noisily.

If the first set had been an exhibition of serving dominance, the second would be the complete opposite.

Djokovic let out a huge roar when he converted his first break point of the match at 1-1, successive backhand errors letting Federer down, and the Swiss appeared rattled as he muttered to umpire Enric Molina at the changeover about the Serb's team coaching him from the stands .

Now a set and a break down, the four-time Australian Open champion needed to find a way back into the match but, in the event, Djokovic handed it to him with a sloppy game that gave the break straight back for 2-2; Kazinform cites BBC News.

See www.bbc.co.uk for full version