Federer in record 7th Aussie final
Chung bows out in the semifinals because of “blisters under blisters”
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA» It took just over an hour for Swiss star Roger Federer to fix one anomalous statistic in his extraordinary career.
Federer, the defending champion who was leading Hyeon Chung 6-1, 5-2 when the South Korean retired in the second set of their Australian Open semifinal 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 62 minutes under the closed roof at Rod Laver Arena, he’s on par at 7-7 (but 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. “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, and it hurts. 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 a wonderful tournament, so credit to him for playing hard again today.”
Federer’s conversion rate for finals in Australia is much better — the only time he lost a championship match was in 2009 against Spain’s Rafael Nadal.
So he’s well poised for Sunday’s title 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 Nadal.
Even if Chung had been fit, he was trying to reach his first ATP final against a player who has won 95 titles — 19 of them Grand Slams.
• For both Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep, the Australian Open women’s final Saturday is a chance to put the demons of past Grand Slam near-misses behind them.
One will finally walk away a champion. The other will have to shake off another loss in a major final and be left to wonder when, or if, another chance will come again.
They have had similar careers to this point: They are steady, consistent performers week to week who have climbed all the way to No. 1 based on the quantity — if not necessarily the quality — of their results.
At the Grand Slams, both are all too familiar with the role of runner-up — Wozniacki losing twice at the U.S. Open, Halep twice at Roland Garros.
The women’s final was set to begin at 1:30 a.m. MST.