Federer leads young trio into semifinals

~ Both Venus and Serena Williams lost in the quarterfinals.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- It's fine for Roger Federer to talk about the tension and nerves players feel before a Grand Slam semifinal. He is about to play in his 15th in a row, after all.

But while it might reassure Novak Djokovic to hear that the man he'll be facing in his first Australian Open semifinal experiences some nerves too, he'd better be wary of the rhetoric.

"I remember when I made my first Grand Slam semifinals or my finals, I was so nervous," Federer said in an almost confiding tone, after beating James Blake 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Wednesday. "Now it's been so many that it's almost become some sort of a routine. That's helped me a great deal being able to cope with those moments."

Federer has a brilliant conversion rate, reaching the last 10 Grand Slam finals and winning 12 of the last 18 dating to his first at Wimbledon in 2003.

The momentum and experience gives Federer the edge, he says: "Maybe they blink a little bit in those important moments, whereas maybe usually they wouldn't."

At 26, Federer is the oldest of the men's semifinalists, and will meet the youngest in 20-year-old Djokovic on Friday. The third-ranked Djokovic beat No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 to complete a run to the semifinals at all four majors.

Rafael Nadal, who will play unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the other semifinal, is the longest-serving No. 2 in tennis history, and he's only 21. Nadal knows something about catching Federer on a bad day in a Grand Slam, though, after beating the Swiss star in the last two French Open finals.

Still, Federer prefers to see the No. 2 and No. 3 players as potential rivals at the end of each major.

"It's great that Rafa made it through, as well, with Novak. It's good for tennis," he said. "It's not just one guy, but it's a few guys now who have been playing very consistently."

Djokovic has two fellow Serbians in the women's semifinals.

No. 3 Jelena Jankovic ousted defending champion Serena Williams, and No. 4 Ana Ivanovic beat Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Ivanovic, who lost the French final to Justine Henin, faces Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova, who advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Agnieszka Radwanska.

Jankovic takes on last year's losing finalist Maria Sharapova of Russia, who ended No. 1-ranked Henin's 32-match winning streak in the quarterfinals.