Federer 1 win from 20th Slam crown
MELBOURNE, Australia — It took just over an hour for Roger Federer to advance to the Australian Open final.
Defending champion Federer, who was leading Hyeon Chung 6-1, 5-2 when the South 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.
It wasn’t how Federer expected to advance.
“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 is well poised for Sunday’s match against No. 6-seeded Marin Cilic. Cilic has had an extra day of rest, but Federer was hardly taxed Friday night, and occupied for only an hour.
The final will be Federer’s record seventh at the Australian Open and 30th at a Grand Slam.
Cilic was hampered by blisters when he lost to Federer in last year’s Wimbledon final, but he has made a relatively pain-free run through the other half of the draw, including a quarterfinal win over an injured Rafael Nadal.
Chung had an incredible run at Melbourne Park, becoming the first South Korean to reach a semifinal at a tennis major and attracting plenty of attention for beating No. 4-seeded Alexander Zverev in the third round and six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth.
But it took a toll. He needed a pain-killing injection before the match, and a medical timeout to retape his left foot after going down a break in the second set. He played only two more games before he quit.
“I did right thing. If I play bad on the court, it’s not good for the fans and audience as well,” he said. “I really hurt. I can’t walk no more.”