7th heaven: Federer saves match points in Australian Open QF

Roger Federer was not going to go gently, of course, no matter how daunting the number of match points -- his opponent accumulated seven! -- no matter how achy his 38-year-old legs, no matter how slow his serves, no matter how off-target his groundstrokes.

Federer still plays for the love of these stages and circumstances. Still yearns for more trophies, too. Down to his very last gasp, time and again, against someone a decade younger, 100th-ranked Tennys Sandgren of the United States, Federer somehow pulled off a memorable comeback to reach the Australian Open semifinals for the 15th time.

Despite all sorts of signs he was not quite himself for much of the match, Federer beat the biceps-bearing, hard-hitting, court-covering Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 on Tuesday in a rollicking quarterfinal that appeared to be over long before it truly was.

"As the match went on, I started to feel better again and all the pressure went away," 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer said afterward.

"I don't deserve this one, but I'm standing here and I'm obviously very, very happy."