Anger stokes Federer’s latest win
MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer turned cranky at the chair umpire for a technology flaw in his Australian Open quarterfinal, using the rare emotional outburst as motivation.
It helped. The 36-year-old Federer, now the tournament’s oldest semifinalist in 41 years, beat longtime rival Tomas Berdych 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday and now faces a challenge from the next generation: 21-year-old Hyeon Chung, the first South Korean to reach a Grand Slam semifinal and the youngest major semifinalist since 2010.
Federer’s victory extended his winning streak to 14 in Australian Open quarterfinals and nine in a personal rivalry with Berdych that dates to 2004. The 19-time major champion leads that headto-head series 20-6, including all five meetings at Melbourne Park.
Federer had to overcome a shaky start, dropping his opening service game and uncharacteristically questioning chair umpire Fergus Murphy because of a technological fault. With Berdych serving for the first set in the ninth game, Federer had challenged a line call.
After a lengthy delay, Murphy called the control room and confirmed the replay graphic couldn’t be displayed on the stadium screen. He also said the original decision stood. When he added Federer had no challenges remaining for the set, Federer approached the chair as the crowd’s cheers intensified.
“Yeah, but you can’t steal my challenge,” Federer told Murphy. “Do you feel comfortable with this? You’re OK with it?”
Seven points later, he eventually broke Berdych to get back on serve, then won the tiebreaker. The match was as good as over.
“I had to get a bit lucky. A bit angry. A bit frustrated maybe at the umpire,” Federer said. “Anyway, glad to get out of that first set. It was key to the match.”
Federer later said he just wanted an explanation from the chair, and he agreed blowing off steam helped his cause.
Chung beat 97th-ranked Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the afternoon match. He hadn’t let up in upset wins over No. 4 Alexander Zverev or six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, but he let his guard down in the last game against Sandgren and needed six match points to finish it off.
“In last game, I think at 40-love … if I win one more point, I make history in Korea. I have to think about the ceremony, something,” Chung said, explaining how he let his celebrations get slightly ahead of the result. “After deuce, break point. I was like, ‘No, nothing to do with ceremony. But just keep
playing — keep focused.’”
The 58th-ranked Chung is the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian semifinals since Marat Safin in 2004, and Federer has been keeping an eye on his progress.
“To beat Novak on this court is particularly difficult. … He’s incredibly impressive in his movement, reminds me obviously a lot of Novak,” Federer said. “He’s clearly got nothing to lose. I will tell myself the same, and we’ll see what happens.”
In the last two women’s quarterfinals, top-ranked Simona Halep recovered from an early break to win nine straight games in a 6-3, 6-2 victory against No. 6 Karolina Pliskova, and 2016 Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber routed 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2.
Halep, a two-time French Open finalist, had a tough road — she had to save match points in a third-round win over Lauren Davis that finished 15-13 in the third — to reach the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time.
Kerber rode a 14-match winning streak into the semifinals, where she was the only major champion still in contention in the women’s draw.
She won the Australian and U.S. Open titles two years ago and reached the No. 1 ranking, then slipped into the 20s last year. She didn’t win a title between the 2016 U.S. Open and the Sydney International earlier this month.
“I am just trying to find the feeling back that I had, like 2016,” Kerber said, “and just enjoying my time.”