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 The 33-year-old Swiss maestro produced a masterclass of
shot-making as he thrashed Australian wildcard James Duckworth 6-0
6-1 to charge into the semi-finals of the Australian Open warm-up
event.
Federer's amazing performance came just 24 hours after he struggled
to see off John Millman, raising doubts about his form ahead of the
first grand slam of the year.
It was also stark evidence that he remains a major force in men's
tennis with an utterly dominant victory on the same day Japanese
sensation Kei Nishikori led a trio of rising stars into the last
four.
"I'm very happy actually. I saved energy and stress and nerves and
everything because yesterday was quite nerve wracking and physically
difficult because it was first match of the season," Federer said.
 "I felt tired. This morning, I had muscle pain and all that stuff.
So I'm very happy I got it done quickly today."
Nishikori, still on a high after reaching the final of last year's
U.S. Open, continued his impressive build-up to Melbourne when he
demolished Bernard Tomic 6-0 6-4.
He was joined in the last four by Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov,
another two up-and-comers tipped to challenge the old order at this
year's majors.
Raonic rode his booming serve to a 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(2) win over
Australia's Sam Groth to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash
against Nishikori.
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Dimitrov made light work of his quarter-final with Martin Klizan,
defeating the Slovakian 6-3 6-4 to book an equally attractive
encounter against Federer.
Raonic and Dimitrov both made the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year
and while they stumbled against their more seasoned opponents they,
along with Nishikori, have been earmarked as potential grand slam
winners.
Nishikori took less than an hour to brush past Tomic, who was also
tipped for big things after reaching the quarters at Wimbledon as a
teenager in 2011.
"There was not a lot I could do," the Australian told reporters.
"That's why he's gotten to (number) five in the world and
potentially has a big chance of becoming a top-three player this
year."
(Editing by John O'Brien and Justin Palmer)
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