Roger Federer overpowers Tomas Berdych and will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in final

The 16-times Grand Slam champion looked impregnable on his serve and did not face a break point. He broke the fifth-seeded Berdych’s serve at the start of each set to take control.

Berdych, conqueror of Andy Murray in the previous round and the 2005 champion, looked nervous and failed to find any rhythm as Federer dictated play with his forehand. The Swiss clinched victory on his first match point, on Berdych’s serve, when he hit a forehand into the corner that Berdych put into the net.

In today’s final, Federer will play France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the sixth-seed, who beat unseeded American John Isner 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 in the second semi-final.

Federer won in one hour, 20 minutes, having signalled his intent from the outset, taking Berdych’s first service game and holding comfortably for 2-0. Berdych struggled in his next service game as Federer set up another break point with a forehand pass down the line, but he saved it with a strong first serve.

That was to prove a regular sight throughout the match, with Berdych having to fight hard to win his service games, unable to pressure Federer’s serve, and powerless to stand up to his relentless forehand passes.

Federer now leads 10 wins to 4 against Berdych, who had won their last meeting in straight sets in the Cincinnati quarter-finals in August.

In the other match, Isner lost just five points on serve in the 39-minute first set, hitting three aces and converting one of four break point opportunities in the sixth game. It was a closer affair in the second set, with Tsonga failing to convert three break point opportunities to Isner’s two chances en route to a tie-break. Tsonga then won six straight points from 1-1.

Tsonga kept the pressure on Isner in the deciding set, with Isner saving a break point in the first game and fighting back from 0-40 at 4-4. Two games later, it was Tsonga in trouble but he managed to save three match points to hold on for a another tie-break, where he raised his game, winning five of the first seven points. before closing out the match.