Roger Federer has shaken off a strong challenge from Grigor Dimitrov, and his lingering illness, to move into the Brisbane International's final four.
Still battling a nasty flu, defending champion Federer was occasionally off-colour against the improved Dimitrov but ultimately prevailed 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 at Pat Rafter Arena on Friday night.
It's a result Federer will gladly take in the circumstances.
"I'm not going to tell you too much, but it was tough in a way," Federer said.
"(My) body is not quite ready, so it's good to get through it without any issues.
"I thought I played really well considering, and caught sort of a second wind in the third set.
"But physically it was difficult."
The win sets up a clash with Austrian youngster Dominic Thiem while the man he beat in last year's final, Milos Raonic, takes on Bernard Tomic in the other semi-final on Saturday.
Federer couldn't have asked for a better start against Dimitrov, dropping just two points on serve through the whole first set.
But for the first time in his career Dimitrov took a set off Federer, playing a near-perfect tiebreaker to force a third set and send a scare through the Swiss maestro's camp just as a few uncharacteristic errors began creeping into his game.
However, Federer soon straightened himself out, broke Dimitrov's serve and expertly snuffed out any chance of a late fightback from the Bulgarian.
The 34-year-old has never faced Thiem before but has a reasonable idea of what to expect from the tournament's eighth seed.
Federer invited Thiem, who upset Croatian third seed Marin Cilic 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 on Friday to book his semi-final spot, to practice with him last year in Switzerland.
"I think he came over for three days and we trained like ten hours together. Good guy, hits a big ball," he said.
"We know each other. I think he's got a great big backhand.
"Sometimes it's nice just to play with somebody who is really excited and pumped up and it's a big deal for them.
"For me it's exciting too, because I wish also I could have played with top guys when I was younger. I got the opportunity a couple times. Not very often."
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