Federer reaches record 7th Aussie final

MELBOURNE, Australia — It took just over an hour for Roger Federer to fix one anomalous statistic in his extraordinary career.

Defending champion Federer, who was leading Hyeon Chung 6-1, 5-2 when the Korean retired in the second set of their Australian Open semifinal on Friday night, is within one win of a 20th Grand Slam singles title.

Going into the match against Chung, Federer had a below-par semifinals record at Melbourne Park, only six wins out of 13.

After 1 hour and 2 minutes under the closed roof on Rod Laver Arena, he’s on par, 7-7 (but

Roger Federer makes a forehand return to Hyeon Chung during their semifinal match at the Australian Open.

still well below his marks at the other majors: 11-1 at Wimbledon, 7-3 at the U.S. Open, and 5-2 at Roland Garros).

It wasn’t how Federer expected to advance. Dita Alangkara / AP

“You do take the faster matches whenever you can because there’s enough wear and tear on the body,” he said.

“The thought process is not like ‘What would have been better?’

“That’s why this one feels bittersweet. I’m incredibly happy to be in the finals, but not like this.”

Chung tried everything to disguise the pain of the raw patches on his left foot which, his agent explained, were “blisters under blisters under blisters.”

Federer knows the feeling. He also sensed something wrong with Chung’s movement.

“I’ve played with blisters in the past a lot, and it hurts a lot. And at one point, it’s just too much and you can’t take it anymore — you can’t go on,” he said. “He’s played such a wonderful tournament, so credit to him for playing so hard again today.”