Australian Open 2018: Federer wishes Nadal a speedy recovery

Hyeon Chung celebrates his win over Tennys Sandgren in the Australian Open quarter-finals.

The Romanian reeled off nine games in a row and 12 of the last 14 games to recover from 0-3 en route to a 6-3, 6-2 victory on Rod Laver Arena.

Federer continued his dominance over the 198cm Cilic when he prevailed over the Croatian in straight sets at Wimbledon past year to clinch his 19th grand slam title. The Chung-Djokovic match was the match I watched the most.

There he will face a resurgent Tomas Berdych, who followed up his win over Juan Martin del Potro by defeating Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-4 6-4.

Federer faces South Korea’s Hyeon Chung for a place in the final. We like our rivalries that do exist on the tour. Federer was full of praise for Chung’s “incredible” win over Djokovic, which the youngster backed up with a straight-sets victory over American upstart Tennys Sandgren.

Up next for the 21-year-old in his first Grand Slam semi-final will be either favourite Roger Federer or 19th seed Tomas Berdych, who are in action on Eurosport 1 from 8.30am GMT.

Cilic will also rise to a career-high ranking of No. 3 by making the final.

1005 hrs IST: A 31-shot rally!

“After the deuce break point, no ceremony, just keep focused”. Chung now at deuce, 5-3. But winning a first set would be completely different story. And he also becomes the first South Korean to do so. Nadal retired with a right leg injury in the fifth set of his quarterfinal with Marin Cilic on Tuesday.

0920 hrs IST: Chung does it!

The 22-year-old tried charging the net in a desperate attempt to kickstart her game but a brilliant backhand pass from Kerber brought up two set points and the stanza was hers in 22 minutes when the 17th seed sent a forehand long. The lapse in mentality gave Sandgren a way back into the match. The Swiss then turned on the style in the tie-break, allowing Berdych a solitary point, and then wrapped up the second set with a single break of serve.

He was playing on the baseline, taking time away from the American and controlling the points.

The had pair endured a nervy start to the match when an evacuation alarm sounded around Rod Laver Arena just as play was about to begin. After the slight delay, Djokovic-conqueror Chung began on a positive note, leading 2-1 over Sandgren.

While in the women’s bracket, Germany’s Angelique Kerber blitzed Madison Keys in straight sets and world number one Simona Halep trounced 6th seed Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-2, showing no signs of fatigue after her marathon 22 game match against Lauren Davis earlier in the tournament.