Dhaka – Roger Federer’s run at the Miami Open was one point from ending. Down 6-4 in a third-set tiebreaker to Tomas Berdych, the situation was officially dire.Yet even in that moment, Federer still felt some hope.”I had belief I could turn it around, even then,” he said.Somehow, he was right, and his stellar start to 2017 continued. The fourth-seeded Federer fought off those two match points and beat the 10th-seeded Berdych 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals on Thursday — avenging a third-set tiebreak loss to Berdych at Key Biscayne seven years ago in a match he still thinks he should have won.”I got incredibly lucky,” Federer said. “Could have gone either way. Felt like maybe this one I should have lost.”UNB agencyFederer feels right at home at Key Biscayne, and so does Caroline Wozniacki — with good reason, since she sometimes practices at the facility. The 12th-seeded Wozniacki, a part-time South Florida resident, made the women’s final for the first time in 10 tries by topping second-seeded Karolina Pliskova 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.”This is one of the few tournaments where I’ve never made a finals,” Wozniacki said. “I think my best result here was semifinals five years ago. It’s always been a tournament where I wouldn’t say I struggle, but I’ve just not had the results I wanted.”Federer improved to 17-1 this year and will face No. 12 Nick Kyrgios in the semifinals on Friday.Kyrgios defeated 16th-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-3 in the last of the men’s quarters, a match that lasted 2 1/2 hours. Kyrgios had 16 aces, no double faults and never faced a break point, though his 19-year-old opponent saved five match points before falling.Zverev fought off three match points in the second-set tiebreaker, and won the set when Kyrgios — who pulled off two between-the-legs shots on the same point in the first set — tried another that didn’t work.”I don’t know what I was thinking,” Kyrgios said.He recovered and gets to face Federer, whom he called “the greatest of all time … my favorite tennis player.” Federer-Kyrgios is a rematch — sort of — from this year’s quarterfinals at Indian Wells, a match where Kyrgios withdrew beforehand with an illness.Rafael Nadal and Fabio Fognini are the other men’s semifinalists, meaning there’s still a chance for Federer-Nadal on Sunday for the men’s crown.”I would love it,” Federer said.Federer is now 4-0 in tiebreakers this year at Key Biscayne, none of the first three as pressure-packed as the one he needed in the quarters. He was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third and got broken, had a match point in the next game and couldn’t convert, then was down 6-4 in the breaker before winning the final four points.Berdych actually won 91 points to Federer’s 89. He needed 92 — and after coming up with big shot after big shot in the final two sets, he wound up going out on a double-fault.”I just lost by one point. That’s what happened. Very simple, very straightforward,” Berdych said. “He was the one serving out the match, didn’t make it. I had a match point, didn’t make it. I had two, didn’t make it. So what else to say?”Like Federer, Wozniacki rallied, albeit with far less drama. She won 12 of the last 14 games.”I got a good start to the second set and that kind of got me fired up,” Wozniacki said.This will be the second consecutive time two double-digit seeds make the women’s final at Key Biscayne, after No. 13 Victoria Azarenka beat No. 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova a year ago.No. 11 Venus Williams and No. 10 Johanna Konta were to play for the other spot in the women’s final later Thursday night.”It’s extremely special,” Wozniacki said. “Having a place here, training here in the offseason, playing kind of on home advantage, it’s special to be in my first finals here. I’m extremely excited.”
