In the lone men’s semifinal on Thursday night at the Australian Open, Roger Federer met Novak Djokovic for the 45th time. The two greats came into the match having won 22 meetings apiece. But in one of his more impressive performances in some time, it was Djokovic advancing behind a 6-1 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory.

The Serb aggressively struck first with deep, angled groundstrokes, moving the Swiss around the court. It would set up a number of early winners for Djokovic, who ran out to a 3-0 lead. He also took advantage of a shaky service set by Federer overall and an unusually high number of unforced errors. Meanwhile, Djokovic was dialed in and made a number of impressive winners to easily take the opener.

The world No. 1 was up against it again in the second set as he faced a break point in his opening service game. He would fight it off and deliver some aggressive baseline strokes as well as a “come on” as he attempted to work himself into the match. But it continued to be a mismatch early. Djokovic pressured Federer with deep, hard groundstrokes, and the errors continued to pile up. Meanwhile, the top seed was absolutely clinical in his precision with pinpoint accuracy from the baseline. This was something not seen often in Federer’s career, but he could find no answers.

With the crowd attempting to get behind Federer, he would hold serve to open the third set. The two champions protected their serves, and Federer finally began to find some rhythm as the set advanced. In the sixth game, the Swiss brought the Melbourne crowd into a frenzy as he broke the top seed’s serve. Playing much more confidently and perhaps feeding off the energy of the crowd, Federer took the third set.

After a delay to close the roof due to the threat of rain, play resumed, and both players found strength in their service games. The delay appeared to take some energy from both players as errors showed up. A key eighth game featured the point of the match as both players exhibited incredible defense to stay in the point. Although Federer won that exchange, a let cord on the next point benefited Djokovic, and the 10-time major champion broke serve. He would consolidate the break with a service hold at love to win the match. The early deficit turned out to be a hole too large for Federer to dig out.

Djokovic will await the winner of the Milos Raonic vs. Andy Murray match that will be played on Friday.

Earlier in the women’s semifinals, Serena Williams continued her pursuit of history as she squared off against Agnieszka Radwanska. It was two players with very different styles as the power of Williams met the defense, court savvy, and counterpunching of Radwanska. And it was the big-hitting game of Serena that would prevail, 6-0 6-4.

Serena quickly broke the Pole in her first service game to set the tone. The American would put her foot on the accelerator and refuse to take it off. It was nearly a perfect first set for Williams, who dictated play with big shots that forced Radwanska to scramble. She would couple that with an assault on the fourth seed’s serve. When the dust settled on the set, Williams had won 24 of the 31 points.

In the second set, with the crowd supporting her, Radwanska held her opening service game to finally get on the board. That success was short-lived as the world No. 1 gained another break advantage. But, as it appeared it might be another runaway set, Radwanska would even the match at 3-3 as some mistakes crept into Serena’s game. With her confidence rising and her shot making elevated, Radwanska found some opportunities to place Williams on the run. But a poor service game that featured some untimely errors tilted the match back in favor of Serena, who would close out the match between the two friends.

Williams was happy with her performance. “I was really hitting just all the right shots, making little to no errors, which is kind of hard to play like that,” she said. She advances to the final, where she will attempt to gain her 22nd major title and tie Steffi Graf for the Open era record.

The second women’s semifinal featured the veteran Angelique Kerber against the rising Johanna Konta. For the first time in her career, Kerber advanced to the final of a Grand Slam with a 7-5 6-2 win.

It was a nervy start by Konta, who struggled with unforced errors early.  The German took advantage with an early break of serve. But as the Brit settled down, she began to rely on her serve to get back into the set and pressured Kerber, who became frustrated. However, the seventh seed took advantage of some shaky groundstrokes by Konta late in the set, allowing her to serve it out.

Now with momentum on her side, Kerber struck quickly in the second set and began to dominate her opponent. The veteran bolted out to a 5-1 lead. Konta mustered one more service hold before Kerber closed out the match on her racket. It was an impressive fortnight for Konta, however, who served notice that she will be a factor in 2016.

Kerber agreed during her post-match interview, stating, “This is a really special moment. I was trying to give everything today. Johanna had a great two weeks. She is a great player and has a great future. She will win many, many tournaments in the future.”

The German will now face a daunting task in her first major final when she meets Serena Williams. But Kerber looks forward to the moment. “Actually I’m really looking forward to playing against Serena in the final,” she said. “It’s just amazing to play against No. 1 in the world in the first Grand Slam final of the year.”