Roger Federer is two wins away from his 20th Grand Slam title after beating Tomas Berdych at the Australian Open.
The world No 2 won 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday to set up a semi-final meeting with 21-year-old Chung Hyeon, who beat Tennis Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Hyeon, ranked 58, is the lowest-ranked Australian Open semi-finalist since Marat Safin in 2004 and the first South Korean – male or female – to reach a Grand Slam semi-final.
When asked about his semi-final opponent, Federer said: ‘I’ve never played Chung or [Kyle] Edmund. It’s great to see new names on the scene. We need it. The way both of them have played is highly impressive.
‘Beating Grigor [Dimitrov], beating Novak [Djokovic] on this court is extremely difficult. Chung reminds me of Novak, sliding across the back of the court and getting balls back.’
Edmund will meet Marin Cilic in the first semi-final on Thursday (not before 10:30 SA time).
In the women’s singles, Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep set up a semi-final clash with convincing wins.
Kerber thrashed America’s Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2 to extend her winning streak to 14.
‘I’m just trying to find the feeling back I had like 2016,’ said the 30-year-old German, who is seeded 21 but will now move back into the top 10 in the rankings. ‘Madison is a hard hitter, and she served good. So I was trying to playing from the first point aggressive and moving good and also bringing a lot of balls back.’
Halep thumped sixth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-2, winning nine games in a row after going 0-3 down in the first set.
‘I didn’t have the best start, but I restarted after three games. I stopped missing so much and moved better,’ said the Romanian.
The other women’s semi-final will be between Elise Mertens and Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday (not before 05:00 SA time).
