MELBOURNE — Results from the 2018 Australian Open Men’s Singles on Day 10 of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
Leading the way was defending champion Roger Federer, who beat No. 19 Tomas Berdych at Rod Laver Arena to reach the semi-finals.
The Swiss world number two player put away his Czech Republic opponent 7-6(1) 6-3 6-4 victory over for the ninth time running to reach his 14th semi-final at the Australian Open.
Federer, who got off to a slow start and spent some time arguing with an umpire, refocused to put it together as he continues to dominate his opponents at Melbourne Park.
“I had to get a bit lucky, a bit angry, a bit frustrated, a bit antsy,” Federer said. “I’m really happy I got out of that first set. That ended up being the key to the match.”
The 36-year-old and five-time Australian Open champion, will take on debutant Hyeon Chung for a place in the final.
“I’m very excited to play Chung, I thought he played an incredible match against Novak (Djokovic),” Federer said.
“To beat him here is one of the tough things to do in our sport, I believe. I know that Novak maybe wasn’t at 110 percent, but he was all right. To close it out, that was mighty impressive.
“I think it’s an interesting match for me. I’ll definitely have to look into how I need to play against him because he has some great qualities, especially defensively, like Novak has.
“Right now I couldn’t tell you how I need to play him. One thing I know is I’m going to be playing aggressive. I don’t know how I’m going to do that exactly yet.”
Chung advanced to last four of the Australian Open after ending the run of American 97th-ranked Tennys Sandgren 6-4 7-6(5) 6-3 in two hours and 28 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
The 21-year-old, with the win, became the first South Korean to reach the semi-finals of a grand slam.
“I think all the people is watching Australian Open now because we make history in Korea,” Chung said.
He also admits that his progression at the 2018 Australian Open will not allow him to travel unnoticed back home.
“I think sure, yeah. Getting better and better all the time now.”
He added: “I make the semis, I beat the likes of Sascha, Novak, and other good players.
“I never played in the second week in a grand slam, so I’m really surprised.”
