Deposed champion and world No.1 Roger Federer has lauded the performance of his Australian Open 2008 semi-final conqueror Novak Djokovic.

Bidding for a place in his 11th successive Grand Slam final, needing a 20th consecutive victory at Melbourne Park to achieve the feat, Federer was out of sorts for all but the first eight games of the match.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion led 5-3 with a break in the opener but from there Serbian No.3 seed Djokovic made all the running as he won five games in a row and nine of the next 10 to take a stranglehold on the match.

Federer, who entered the tournament with no official match play under his belt this year following an illness, did his best to fight back in the third set but it was to no avail as Djokovic weathered everything he could throw at him and prevailed 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-5).

"There's no doubt I've played better in my life," Federer said afterwards. "I've not been really serving like the way I wanted to, maybe the last few matches. Look, it happens. But he covered the court well. He didn't give me much."

"So that obviously played a role in the way I played tonight. But … I wasn't completely satisfied. He's come through the draw convincingly. He's been playing very solid. He had a tough draw, you know, if I compare it to maybe Rafa's (Rafael Nadal's). So he absolutely deserves to be in the final."

Having started the tournament in convincing fashion, particularly when he conceded just three games against Fabrice Santoro in the second round, Federer had to dig deep to get through his third-round meeting with Djokovic's compatriot Janko Tipsarevic.

And while he followed that victory with straight-sets wins over Czech Tomas Berdych and American James Blake, Federer added later that he hasn't felt completely comfortable throughout the fortnight.

"No, I don't, I didn't think I was moving that great," he said. "I think I played really well the first two matches, in terms of movement also. I don't know if the surface got a bit quicker."

"I definitely wasn't as good on the defensive like I usually am. I couldn't come up with the passing shot when I needed to. Yeah, that definitely hurt me, especially today."

Still coming to terms with the defeat when he faced reporters shortly after the match was over, Federer did manage to find some positives in the fact that he made Djokovic earn the win.

"There's some sort of a disappointment. But, you know, from the spirit, the way I fought, the way I tried, it's all I could give, you know," he said. "When you give a hundred per cent, you know, you're sort of happy with your performance."

"It can't always go your way. I know that. I've won, many, many times when I didn't expect myself to win. So tonight's one of those nights where you're a little bit disappointed. But it's going to go over and I'm going to look forward to the rest of the year."

According to Federer though, the turning point of the match was clearly when he dropped his own serve at 5-4 in the first set when he was serving for it.

"We all know if I would have served it out the match would have been a bit different," Federer said. "Sure, he could have come back and still beaten me, but circumstances of would have been different. He wouldn't have played that freely in the second set."

"He usually doesn't play that well. That was unfortunate for me. You know, I paid the price twice, not only losing the set, but also the second set. You know, I missed many opportunities the third set."

"But, like I said, he came up with some great shots, some great serves, and, you know, saved himself that way."

Federer may have suffered his first loss at Melbourne Park since Marat Safin beat him in the semi-finals three years ago in a five-set thriller on the way to taking the title but it's a sure bet he'll be back gunning for his fourth Australian Open title in 2009.

Novak Djokovic says his place in Sunday's Australian Open 2008 men's singles final is just reward for the hard work he has put in over the past 18 months.

The 20-year-old Serbian claimed the biggest win of his flourishing career on Day 12 at Melbourne Park, maintaining his record of winning each of his matches in straight sets with a 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win over world No.1 Roger Federer.

But while he was still pinching himself afterwards, having recorded just his second win in seven career meetings against the two-time defending champion, Djokovic was delighted with his reward.

"Well, honestly, everything is going so fast for me," he said. "As I was saying, if you tell me at the start of last year that I will play four consecutive semi-finals in Grand Slams and two finals, I would accept it right away."

"That's no doubt. So I can say that it's a little bit surprising. But, again, I've been working very hard in the past year-and-a-half, so it's paying off right now."

Djokovic dominated from the middle stages of the first set through to the same point of the second, claiming the first and setting himself up to do likewise in the second by winning five games in succession and nine out of 10.

And apart from the actual result itself, he added that perhaps the most pleasing aspect was that he had been able to withstand a strong Federer challenge in the third set before prevailing to set up his Sunday clash with unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"Well, yes, that was one of the positive facts, I think, in tonight's match, I was able to deal with the pressure in the best possible way," Djokovic added. "And if you do that against the best player in the world, you know, you should get the positive outcome, which resulted of course with the win tonight."

"I'm very happy that in crucial moments my serve was serving me, and it was probably my best element in the game tonight in the important moments. So it is a positive thing for the future."

When Federer served for the first set at 5-3 many observers may have felt that he was well on the way to his fifth Melbourne Park final in six years but his 19-match winning streak at the year's first Grand Slam was ended as Djokovic maintained his faith.

"I was just trying to keep the momentum, you know, just keep it going, not to think about the circumstances, you know, I was a break down, I'm already looking at the second set," he said.

"No, I was trying to really focus and play basically every point every game. And only in that way, you know, I was able to win in the straight sets."

Having said immediately after defeating Federer that he felt like he not only had to beat the player on the other side of the net but also the crowd, Djokovic is hoping for a little more support against Tsonga.

"Today it was quite difficult for me," he said. "It's understandable crowd was a little bit more for him, because he's defending champion and No.1 player of the world. But hopefully it's going to be better in the next match. That's what I hope for."

"But as a finalist and as a pretty much experienced player I've been through a lot of situations like this, so this is another big experience for me, playing in front of a full house. You can't have always a crowd behind you. So we'll see what happens on Sunday."

With Tsonga set to light up Rod Laver arena one more time for this event on Sunday, Djokovic may again be forced to play the villain if he is to claim his maiden Grand Slam title but one gets the feeling he will have no problems dealing with that if necessary.

The underdog story is alive and well at Australian Open 2008 after unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wlfried Tsonga disposed of Spaniard Rafael Nadal with an emphatic 6-2 6-3 6-2 win.

The Frenchman came out firing in the opener easing through his first service game before stealing Nadal's off him.

Long rallies wowed a packed Rod Laver Arena as Tsonga scrambled at the net and played perfect drop shots to leave Nadal pondering at the base line.

With a 2-0 lead, the remainder of the first set went on serve until Tsonga decided to finish it off on Nadal's last service game and with three set points in hand he required only one to make it 6-2.

After a brief toilet break Tsonga returned to the court, displaying the same ballerina-like turns and pirouettes that had troubled Nadal in the opening set.

While both men held their first serve it was the 22-year-old Frenchman who got the crowd roaring, urging them to cheer him on.

He decided to make his move while leading at 4-3 and at 40-30 up it was the powerful overhead smash that had Nadal reeling and questioning his renowned forehand.

With three aces and an unforced error from the opposite side of the net handing him the second set at 6-3 the 21-year-old Spaniard was left laughing in disbelief and the crowd giving Tsonga a standing ovation.

Another toilet break for Tsonga and he was back and pumped for set three, while Nadal tried to lift his game.

With two break point opportunities for Nadal in Tsonga's first service game at 15-40 it looked like the No.2 seed was ready to make his move. But a series of unforced errors handed the advantage back, thus ending Nadal's remaining chances.

Tsonga made his first break straight after and although Nadal was able to hold unto his third service game and make it 3-2, he couldn't follow through on the fist pumping and encouragement he fed to himself.

Going with the flow of play, Tsonga broke again taking a 5-2 lead, requiring only one hold of serve to advance to his first Grand Slam final.

He eased to 40-15 in the last game and with a booming ace, just like that, he became a worldwide sensation.

Reacting slowly and in awe of his own efforts at first Tsonga eventually warmed into what has become his trademark jumping and thumbs-up celebration.

Tsonga, who came into the tournament ranked No.38, will next face World No.1 Roger Federer or No.3 Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday night.

Match Facts
 
-  Tsonga served 17 aces to Nadal’s 2

-  The Frenchman converted 5 of 7 break points while Nadal was unsuccessful with 0 of 3

-  In the second set Tsonga had 22 winners and 11 unforced errors to Nadal’s two winners and one unforced error

-  Both players committed only one double fault for the match

-  The match lasted one hour and 57 minutes