Chung gets Federer again
INDIAN WELLS — A badly blistered foot stopped Hyeon Chung’s unexpected progress at the Australian Open in January, forcing the 21-year-old from South Korea to retire during the second set of his semifinal match against Roger Federer. The first set was a 6-1 breeze for Federer and the Swiss master led the second set 5-2 when Chung determined he couldn’t continue, but it would have been interesting to see what a healthy Chung might have done against Federer as a followup to his earlier victories over Sascha Zverev and Novak Djokovic.
Chung, who has improved his world ranking from 58 during the Australian Open to a career-best 26 as of last week, will get another shot at Federer in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open. Chung needed 10 match points to finish off his fourth-round match against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas on Wednesday but finally closed out a 6-1, 6-3 victory. Federer, smooth as ever, overwhelmed unseeded Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-4 to run his match record this year to 15-0 and continued pursuit of his sixth title here.
Chung knows what’s in store for him against Federer. “I’m just trying to [play] 100% my tennis, for sure, because he play great tennis. I’m just trying to focus on my match,” said Chung, the first player from South Korea to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. “He’s playing really good this year so far, as well, so I don’t know. Just playing really fast and good serve, good baseline. He play everything good, so I’m just trying to. … I don’t know. I’m just trying to enjoy on the court.”
Federer said he felt bad for Chung’s medical misfortune at the Australian Open. “Seeing the blister after, that wasn’t very nice. I can just imagine how much pain there is to it,” Federer said. “I hope he’s OK now….He seems fine and he played a great match [Wednesday].”
Osaka does it again
Unseeded 20-year-old Naomi Osaka racked up another upset as she charged into the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over No. 5 seed Karolina Pliskova. Osaka, who defeated Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska here, won 92% of points on her first serve against Pliskova and won the last four games of the match. Osaka will face No. 1 seed Simona Halep, who has won all three of their head-tohead matches.
Halep struggled with brisk winds that swirled in the afternoon but regrouped for a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory over unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia that put her into the semifinals. Halep, the last of seven former BNP Paribas champions in the competition, won the last five games against Martic, whose No. 51 world ranking puts her 50 below Halep. “After 3-1, I just woke up and I realized that I’m not doing the right thing on court,” Halep said.
Halep was guaranteed of keeping her points-based top ranking after No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki lost here in the round of 16 but was intent on earning it. She admitted she panicked a bit in the second-set tiebreaker when the wind was at its worst, but her match record this year stands at 18-1 because she found ways to keep the ball in play and create good angles.
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Sam Querrey, who last year at Wimbledon became the first American to reach a Grand Slam final since 2009, advanced to the quarterfinals here with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Querrey, the No. 18 seed, will face Milos Raonic of Canada, who advanced when Marcos Baghdatis of Cypress withdrew Wednesday night because of illness. No. 7 Kevin Anderson of South Africa outhit No. 11 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) to advance to the quarterfinals against 21-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia.