Roger Federer reached his 30th Grand Slam final as South Korean Hyeon Chung retired suffering from blisters on his left foot during one-sided Australian Open semi- final.
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Federer was already leading the game by 6-1, 5-2 when the 21-year-old walked over to the umpire to inform about his blisters.
The 21-year-old sent 12-time Grand Slam victor Novak Djokovic packing in the fourth round, although the Serb was carrying an injury and not at his best.
A sports commentator said: “I’m surprised, if it’s just blisters, that he’s not going to see it through to the end”. I think the belief and the way he played very positive made him win that match because he didn’t look good there for a while when he was down a set and a break and everything. He’s had a problem with the blister. “I’m just learning a lot”. He crushed me in the US Open semi-finals.
Steen: Federer has spent less time on court than one of the women’s finalists this AO, thus he’s fresh as a daisy and has played some fantastic tennis over the past few matches.
With the two set to meet again in a major final tomorrow, the 29-year-old has revealed that he believes it was important that something like that happened, so he could experience the low of losing after the high of winning the US Open. He picked up a foot injury in the 2017 Wimbledon final against Federer, and was no match for the Swiss. “I couldn’t tell what was going on with my opponent”. “I won those balls, and then I got the confidence back that I’m still alive and I can do it”.
The pair’s last meeting was in the group stage of the ATP Finals in London last season – a match Federer won in three competitive sets – but on the Grand Slam stage it is a repeat of the Wimbledon final which the world No 2 won in straight sets.
‘I think a lot of players get callouses. By reaching his seventh final at Melbourne Park, Federer, 36, has set a new Open era record, but he needs to win to equal Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson’s six titles. To book his berth in the finals, Cilic had overcome the challenge of Kyle Edmund in the semifinal beating him 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in over two hours.
Federer said he won’t be making any late improvements to the form which has seen him through to the final without the loss of a set.
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Added Federer: “For many weeks and months before you try to put yourself in the position to be ready (for) a good semi-finals or quarter-finals match at the Australian Open”.
