Oldest swinger in town Federer hits new milestone
ANOTHER day, another set of milestones passed by Roger Federer. The 36-year-old Swiss became the oldest semi-finalist here at the Australian Open for 41 years yesterday thanks to an emphatic victory over one of his more familiar rivals.
Federer was facing Tomas Berdych in Grand Slam competition for the 10th time and the match went the same way as seven of their previous confrontations as the world No 2 won 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 to secure a semi-final meeting with 21-yearold Korean Hyeon Chung.
Tomorrow’s match will be his 14th appearance in an Australian Open semi-final – since 2003 the only year in which he has missed out was 2015 – and his 43rd in all Grand Slam tournaments.
Federer’s serene progress through the field has been in stark contrast to the fortunes of his four greatest rivals of the last decade, who are all nursing injuries.
Andy Murray missed the tournament because of hip surgery, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic suffered early exits after returning from injury, while Rafael Nadal retired hurt with a hip muscle problem in the fifth set of his quarter-final against Marin Cilic on Tuesday.
In contrast, Federer has sailed through his five matches without any sign of a physical problem and without dropping a set. At two hours and 14 minutes, his victory over Berdych was his longest match of the fortnight so far.
Berdych, nevertheless, got off to a fine start and led 5-2. Federer’s mood was not helped by a row towards the end of the first set with the Irish umpire Fergus Murphy, when the Hawk-Eye video replay system failed to function properly.
However, the Swiss broke back in the ninth game, saved one set point with a backhand winner at 4-5 and another at 5-6 when Berdych missed a backhand. The tie-break was a mismatch, with Federer winning 7-1. Federer (right) took the second set with a single break of serve in the eighth game and in the third set had the better of three successive breaks of serve from 1-1 before serving out for victory.
Chung, who has knocked out Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, reached his first Grand Slam semi-final by beating Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6, 6-3. He has never played Federer. “I’m very excited to play Chung,” Federer said. “I thought he played an incredible match against Novak. 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 110pc, but he was all right. He was giving it a fight till the very end.” Federer welcomed the fact that young players like Chung and Britain’s Kyle Edmund were breaking through. “I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “They got to make a move. I find it disappointing when their breakthroughs come at 27, because then we know them for seven years, let’s say. I like it when we don’t know the guys. “I hardly know Chung. I’ve hardly spoken to him. I had one Nike appearance once with Edmund over in London. That’s about it. Maybe otherwise I’ve shaken his hand twice and spoken a few words to him. In a way I like it, because it’s really something totally new to me. New names are good, from time to time, of course for the tour.”
Federer sent a message to Nadal wishing him well after watching the Spaniard suffer with his hip injury the previous evening. However, Nadal revealed yesterday that the injury was not as serious as had been feared. Edmund faces Cilic in today’s first semi-final.
Women’s World No 1 Simona Halep has set up a mouthwatering semi-final with 2016 champion Angelique Kerber after her 6-3, 6-2 win over Karolina Pliskova. (© Independent News Service)
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