Anderson pleased with workout after comeback win over Chung
Kevin Anderson said that being forced to play a lengthy match to see off the challenge of Hyeon Chung at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, provided a boost to his preparations for the upcoming new season.
The defending champion at the event in Abu Dhabi had to come from a set down to beat Chung 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the opening match of the tournament, to set up a semi-final clash with Rafael Nadal on Friday.
The match lasted for two hours and 24 minutes and was full of long rallies with both men returning well throughout.
Anderson, 32, said it had served a useful exercise in providing him with a victory in what was his first match in more then a month after his 2018 season had ended at the ATP Tour Finals in London.
“To get that amount of time out there was good,” the South African said. “With the Australian Open coming up, where it is three out of five sets, to be able to get that time on court, in a challenging match situation is great.”
Chung, making his first appearance at the International Tennis Centre in Zayed Sports City, had started the better of the two, engineering three break points in a lengthy first game of the match, which were all saved.
He looked in danger of being pushed aside when the No 6 broke him to love in the sixth game and Anderson subsequently charged into a 5-2 lead.
But the South Korean fought back, and after failing to take three more break points in the ninth game he finally did get the break back at the fourth try as Anderson went long with a forehand from the back of the court to get the match back on serve. Chung controlled the tie-break and won it on his first set point when Anderson netted a service return. But Anderson hit back in the second set, breaking Chung twice in a row to take charge and he would go on to take the set 6-2.
It was a similar story in the final set as Anderson took advantage of Chung misfiring serve to break twice and move 4-0 ahead.
Victory was sealed shortly afterwards as Chung put a forehand wide on match point to allow a relieved Anderson the chance to punch the air in celebration as he broke for a sixth time in the match.
Anderson credited breaking Chung in the opening game of the second set for being the catalyst for his success.
“Tennis can be a funny game,” he added. “Small points can make all the difference and getting that break at the start of the second set changed things and I was able to go on from there.”
Nadal, the most successful player in the tournament’s history with four titles to his name, now awaits Anderson.
It is a rematch of the 2017 US Open final, which was Anderson’s first appearance in a grand slam final, when he lost to the Spaniard in straight sets.
That was the most recent of their five meetings on the ATP Tour, with Nadal having won all of them.