Roger Federer holds off Andy Murray to reach Australian Open semifinal

MELBOURNE, Australia -- For a full two sets and nine games, Roger Federer was the picture of poise, picking up half-volleys with vintage panache and placing winners past Andy Murray.

Then, in the bounce of a ball -- or two bounces of the ball, depending on opinion -- the 17-time major winner was transformed back into the vulnerable, 2013-edition Federer.

After breaking Murray to get a chance to serve for the match yesterday and a spot in the Australian Open semifinals, Federer dropped serve.

He recovered and jumped to a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker, but then Murray rallied and won six of the last seven points to prolong the quarterfinal.

After wasting a handful of break-point chances in Murray's next service game, Federer finally wore down the Wimbledon champion, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3, to set up a semifinal showdown with top-ranked Rafael Nadal.

"For me it was just a matter of staying calm and forgetting about it a little bit because, you know, the match was great until that point," Federer said.

Murray made his resurgence after disputing a point in the ninth game of the third set, when he thought the ball had bounced twice before Federer hit it. Replays shown in Rod Laver Arena were inconclusive. Federer thought it was good, and left the call to the umpire.

Now it's on to Nadal, who lost the first set and faced set points in the third against Grigor Dimitrov. Despite a painful blister on the palm of his left hand that hampered his serve, Nadal advanced, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-2, against the Bulgarian.

Li, Cibulkova in final. Li Na reached the final for the third time in four years Thursday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over 19-year-old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. She will face No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova, who routed fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-1, 6-2.