Roger Federer Survives Tomas Berdych, Advances to 2017 Miami Open Semifinals

No. 4 Roger Federer battled his way into the semifinals of the Miami Open on Thursday, as he survived 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6) in a quarterfinal match at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida.

The victory was Fed's seventh in a row over the Czech veteran, and he improved his career record against Berdych to 18-6. It was far from easy, though, as Federer saved two match points in the deciding, third-set tiebreak.

It marked Federer's second difficult match in a row, as he needed two tiebreaks and nearly two hours to beat Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round, and followed that up with a near-two-hour effort against Berdych as well.

The Swiss superstar was locked in during the early going, as he broke Berdych in his first service game.

Federer was on point throughout the first set, which prompted former Los Angeles Lakers standout Mychal Thompson to pay him a huge compliment on Twitter:

After several holds of serve, Federer took firm control of the set while leading 4-2 with Berdych on serve.

As seen in the following video courtesy of Tennis TV, Fed executed a masterful drop shot to secure the break and take a 5-2 advantage:

The 18-time Grand Slam champion then closed out the set emphatically with an ace after less than 30 minutes of play:

Federer appeared poised to cruise to victory after such a dominant set, but Berdych was undeterred by his slow start.

Leading 4-3, Berdych broke Federer for the first time to take a 5-3 lead, and he followed that up with a hold to surprisingly even the match and force a decisive set.

Per Jose Morgado of Diario Record, it marked the first time Berdych had won a set off Federer in three years:

It also ended Federer's streak of 17 consecutive sets won dating back to his loss to Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai.

Berdych had all the momentum on his side entering the third set, but Federer's underrated grit was on full display.

Holding a 3-2 advantage, Federer scored a huge break of serve to go up 4-2 and put himself in ideal position to close out the match.

Following the break, Berdych appeared somewhat deflated, and that initially manifested itself in his level of play:

Both Federer and Berdych held serve to set the stage for Fed to serve the match out and book his spot in the semis.

In a surprising twist, however, Berdych broke Federer at love to stay alive, which marked a significant departure from the norm, per Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times:

Federer earned a match point while Berdych was on serve, but the underdog staved it off to even the match at 5-5, and the players soon entered into a match-deciding tiebreak.

Berdych had Federer on the ropes leading 6-4 with two match points, but Fed erased them and took a 7-6 lead before Berdych double-faulted to end the match:

Federer kept his hopes alive to win his third career Miami Open title, and first since 2006.

In order to do so, he must win two more matches, one of which will come against either Alexander Zverev or Nick Kyrgios in the semifinals.

Playing a young player like Zverev and Kyrgios could be a huge challenge after navigating through battles against Bautista Agut and Berdych, but Federer is enjoying his best year in recent memory.

Post-Match Reaction

Following his hard-fought win, Federer told ESPN (h/t ATPWorldTour.com) that he was fortunate to avoid elimination from the tournament:

"

I've had some tough losses here where I should have won, like against Tomas a few years ago and also against [Kei] Nishikori, and they stay with you. I'm happy to come have through today. I definitely got very lucky at the end, but I think I showed great heart today. I fought and Tomas definitely started to step it up, but it was a great match at the end.

"

Federer also revealed that he gave himself some good advice during the tiebreak: "Don't mess up, hit a few aces, stay aggressive on the return ... those silly things you tell yourself that never work. But they seem to be working now. I enjoy winning breakers because those are the ones that are going to make you win a tournament sometimes."

Fed has won three tiebreaks over the past two matches, which bodes well for his chances entering the semis.