2018 Australian Open – Day 12 Men’s Preview

2018 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

DAY 12 MEN’S NOTES

Friday 25 January

Semifinals Bottom Half

2 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v HYEON CHUNG (KOR)

Head-to-head: first meeting

Federer has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 58 Chung at a Grand Slam since falling to No. 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky in the 2nd round at 2013 Wimbledon. He has lost 3 other Grand Slam matches to players ranked as low as Chung – to No. 59 Jiri Novak at 1999 Wimbledon, to No. 154 Mario Ancic at 2002 Wimbledon and to No. 88 Luis Horna at 2003 Roland Garros.

If Chung wins today, it will be the first time that no members of the ‘Big 4’ (Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal) have reached the final here since 2005, when Marat Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt.

With Marin Cilic and Kyle Edmund contesting the first semifinal here, this will be just the 2nd time that a player outside the ‘Big 4’ has reached the Australian Open final since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga finished runner-up in 2008. In that time, Stan Wawrinka, who won the title in 2014 on his only Australian Open final appearance to date, is the only player outside of the ‘Big 4’ to reach the final here.

With Chung and Edmund both having reached the semifinals here unseeded, this is the first time that there are multiple unseeded players in the Australian Open men’s singles semifinals since 1999, when Thomas Enqvist, Tommy Haas and Nicolas Lapentti all reached the semifinals here unseeded.

At 36 years 173 days, Federer is 14 years 284 days older than Chung, who is 21 years 254 days. This is the 4th-largest age gap between Grand Slam semifinalists in the Open Era. The younger man has defeated the older man in the other 4 of the top 5 Grand Slam semifinal match-ups with the largest age difference.

Largest age differences in men’s singles Grand Slam semifinals (Open Era)

Older player

Younger player

Grand Slam

Age gap

Result

Ken Rosewall

(41 years 63 days)

Mark Edmondson

(21 years 190 days)

1976 Australian Open

19 years 238 days

Edmondson d. Rosewall

61 26 62 64

Jimmy Connors

(39 years 6 days)

Jim Courier

(21 years 22 days)

1991 US Open

17 years 349 days

Courier d. Connors

63 63 62

Ken Rosewall

(42 years 68 days)

Roscoe Tanner

(25 years 86 days)

1977 (Jan) Australian Open

16 years

347 days

Tanner d. Rosewall

64 36 64 61

Roger Federer

(36 years 173 days)

Hyeon Chung

(21 years 254 days)

2018 Australian Open

14 years

284 days

???

Jimmy Connors

(34 years 306 days)

Pat Cash

(22 years 39 days)

1987 Wimbledon

12 years

267 days

Cash d. Connors

64 64 61

FEDERER v CHUNG

36 Age 21

6’1’’/1.85m Height 6’2’’/1.88m

2 ATP Ranking 58

95 Titles 0

Won 19 titles Best Grand Slam Result Semifinals 2018 Australian Open

330-52 Career Grand Slam Record 10-7

92-13 Australian Open Record 6-2

1137-250 Career Record 54-45

709-139 Career Record – Hard 37-31

5-0 2018 Record 8-2

5-0 2018 Record – Hard 8-2

29-20 Career Five-Set Record 3-2

10 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0

419-224 Career Tiebreak Record 15-22

3-0 2018 Tiebreak Record 7-1

Possible final head-to-heads

	Cilic	Edmund
Federer	8-1	0-0
Chung	0-3	0-2

Road to the Semifinals

FEDERER	Time		Time	CHUNG
d. Aljaz Bedene 63 64 63	1:39	1st round	0:48	d. No. 32 Mischa Zverev 62 4-1 ret. (viral illness)
d. Jan-Lennard Struff 64 64 76(4)	1:55	2nd round	1:56	d. Daniil Medvedev 76(4) 61 61
d. No. 29 Richard Gasquet 62 75 64	1:59	3rd round	3:22	d. No. 4 Alexander Zverev 57 76(3) 26 63 60
d. Marton Fucsovics 64 76(3) 62 d. No. 19 Tomas Berdych 76(1) 63 64	2:01 2:14	Round of 16 Quarterfinals	3:21 2:28	d. No. 14 Novak Djokovic 76(4) 75 76(3) d. Tennys Sandgren 64 76(5) 63

total time on court	9:48	(SMT time)	11:55	total time on court

Defending champion FEDERER is bidding to reach his 7th final here and take sole ownership of the record for most Australian Open finals reached in the Open Era, ahead of Novak Djokovic.

Most Australian Open finals (Open Era)

Player	No. of appearances
Roger Federer	*7??*
Novak Djokovic	6
Stefan Edberg Andy Murray	5 5
Andre Agassi Ivan Lendl Rafael Nadal Mats Wilander	4 4 4 4

Active players in bold

Federer is bidding to reach his 30th Grand Slam final and extend his record for most Grand Slam final appearances in the Open Era. (see table overleaf)

Most Grand Slam finals (Open Era)

Player	No. of appearances
Roger Federer	*30??*
Rafael Nadal	23
Novak Djokovic	21
Ivan Lendl	19
Pete Sampras	18
Bjorn Borg	16
Andre Agassi Jimmy Connors	15 15

Active players in bold

Federer is bidding to become the 2nd man in the Open Era to reach multiple Australian Open finals aged 35 or over. At 36 years 173 days, he would become the 3rd oldest Australian Open finalist

Oldest men to reach Australian Open final (Open Era)

Age	Player	Year
37 years 62 days	Ken Rosewall	1972
36 years 306 days	Mal Anderson	1972
*36 years 173 days*	*Roger Federer??*	*2018??*
36 years 73 days	Ken Rosewall	1971
35 years 174 days	Roger Federer	2017

NB Age calculated at the end of the tournament

The Australian Open is Federer’s most successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won and his joint-2nd most successful Grand Slam in terms of titles won. Wimbledon is his most successful Grand Slam in terms of titles won and finals reached.

Grand Slam	Titles won	Win-loss record	Finals reached
Australian Open	5	92-13	*7??*
Roland Garros	1	65-16	5
Wimbledon	8	91-11	11
US Open	5	82-12	7

Federer has a 29-13 win-loss record in Grand Slam semifinals – but 7 of his 13 defeats in Grand Slam semifinals have come at Melbourne Park. He has a 6-7 win-loss record in semifinals here, compared to 5-2 at Roland Garros, 11-1 at Wimbledon and 7-3 at the US Open.

Federer’s Australian Open semifinal appearances

Australian Open	Opponent	Result
2004	Juan Carlos Ferrero	Won 64 61 64
2005	Marat Safin	Lost 57 64 57 76(6) 97
2006	Nicolas Kiefer	Won 63 57 60 62
2007	Andy Roddick	Won 64 60 62
2008	Novak Djokovic	Lost 75 63 76(5)
2009	Andy Roddick	Won 62 75 75
2010	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Won 62 63 62
2011	Novak Djokovic	Lost 76(3) 75 64
2012	Rafael Nadal	Lost 67(5) 62 76(5) 64
2013	Andy Murray	Lost 64 67(5) 63 67(2) 62
2014	Rafael Nadal	Lost 76(4) 63 63
2016	Novak Djokovic	Lost 61 62 36 63
2017	Stan Wawrinka	Won 75 63 16 46 63
2018	Hyeon Chung	??

Federer has reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam without dropping a set for the 11th time. He has reached the final at a Grand Slam without dropping a set on 5 occasions, and gone on to win the title without dropping a set on 2 occasions – at the 2007 Australian Open and 2017 Wimbledon. (see table overleaf)

Federer reaching Grand Slam semifinals without dropping a set

Year	Grand Slam	Semifinal result	Final result
2005	Australian Open	l. Marat Safin 57 64 57 76(6) 97	n/a
2005	Roland Garros	l. Rafael Nadal 63 46 64 63	n/a
2006	Wimbledon	d. Jonas Bjorkman 62 60 62	d. Rafael Nadal 60 76(5) 67(2) 63
2007	Australian Open	d. Andy Roddick 64 60 62	d. Fernando Gonzalez 76(2) 64 64
2008	Wimbledon	d. Marat Safin 63 76(3) 64	l. Rafael Nadal 64 64 67(5) 67(8) 97
2010	US Open	l. Novak Djokovic 57 61 57 62 75	n/a
2011	Roland Garros	d. Novak Djokovic 76(5) 63 36 76(5)	l. Rafael Nadal 75 76(3) 57 61
2012	Australian Open	l. Rafael Nadal 67(5) 62 76(5) 64	n/a
2015	US Open	d. Stan Wawrinka 64 63 61	l. Novak Djokovic 64 57 64 64
2017	Wimbledon	d. Tomas Berdych 76(4) 76(4) 64	l. Marin Cilic 63 61 64
2018	Australian Open	v Hyeon Chung	??

By reaching his 14th Australian Open semifinal, Federer has equalled Jimmy Connors’ record for most semifinals reached at any one Grand Slam event.

No. of semifinals reached at any one Grand Slam event (Open Era)

Player	No. of semifinals
Jimmy Connors Roger Federer	14 (US Open) 14 (Australian Open)
Roger Federer	12 (Wimbledon)
Jimmy Connors	11 (Wimbledon)

By reaching his 14th Australian Open semifinal, Federer has extended his record for most semifinal appearances here in the Open Era, ahead of Stefan Edberg (8) and Ivan Lendl (7).

By reaching his 43rd Grand Slam semifinal, Federer has extended his record for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances in the Open Era, ahead of Connors and Djokovic (both 31).
At 36 years 173 days, Federer has become the oldest man to reach the semifinals here since Ken Rosewall (42 years 68 days) in January 1977. He is also the 2nd man in the Open Era to reach multiple semifinals here after turning 35 after Rosewall, who reached 4 semifinals here after his 35th birthday.

Federer has also become the oldest man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam since Connors (39 years 6 days) at the 1991 US Open.

Federer will remain at No. 2 when the new rankings are released on Monday 29 January regardless of his result here, behind Rafael Nadal, who ensured he would retain the No. 1 ranking after reaching the quarterfinals.

Federer is bidding to win his 20th Grand Slam title and become only the 4th player in history to win 20 or more Grand Slam singles titles. Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf are the only other players to have won 20 or more Grand Slams. (see Preview page 1)

Federer is looking to win his 4th Grand Slam title after his 30th birthday and join Rod Laver and Rosewall at the top of the list for most Grand Slam titles won after turning 30. Victory here would also see him become just the 2nd man to win 3 Grand Slam titles after turning 35, after Rosewall. (see Preview page 2)

Federer is contesting his 106th Australian Open match today, extending his record for most matches played at the Australian Open in the Open Era. Connors is the only other man to have played 100 matches at one Grand Slam event in the Open Era – at both Wimbledon (102) and the US Open (115). Federer has played 102 matches at Wimbledon, 94 matches at the US Open and 81 at Roland Garros.

Last year here, Federer won his 5th Australian Open title and 18th Grand Slam title overall by defeating Nadal in 5 sets, becoming only the 3rd man in history to win 5 titles here after Djokovic and Roy Emerson. At No. 17, he was the lowest-ranked man to win the Australian Open since No. 18 Thomas Johansson won the title here in 2002. It was also the first time he had contested 3 five-set matches in the same Grand Slam event.

Federer is contesting his 72nd Grand Slam event at the 2018 Australian Open, extending his record for most Grand Slam appearances. (See Preview page 6)

Federer warmed up for the Australian Open at the 2018 Hopman Cup, winning all 4 of his singles matches – against Yuichi Sugita 64 63, Karen Khachanov 63 76(8), Jack Sock 76(5) 75 and Alexander Zverev 67(4) 60 62 – as Switzerland won the title.

In Grand Slam play in 2017, Federer won his 18th and 19th Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon (d. Marin Cilic). He won Wimbledon for the 8th time, surpassing William Renshaw and Pete Sampras to claim sole ownership of the record for most men’s singles titles at Wimbledon. He also reached the quarterfinals at the US Open (l. Juan Martin del Potro), but withdrew from Roland Garros to prepare for the grass court season.

Federer won the most Tour-level titles in 2017. In addition to his 2 Grand Slam victories, he won the titles at Indian Wells-1000 (d. Stan Wawrinka), Miami-1000 (d. Nadal), Halle (d. Alexander Zverev), Shanghai-1000 (d. Nadal) and Basel (d. Del Potro).

Federer is coached by 2006 Australian Open quarterfinalist Ivan Ljubicic, and Severin Luthi.

CHUNG is bidding to become the first Korean player – man or woman – in history to reach the final at a Grand Slam.

Chung is bidding to become just the 3rd Asian player – man or woman – in history to reach a Grand Slam final.

Asian players in Grand Slam finals (all-time)

Player	Grand Slam	Result
Li Na	2011 Australian Open 2011 Roland Garros 2013 Australian Open 2014 Australian Open	l. Kim Clijsters 36 63 63 d. Francesca Schiavone 64 76(0) l. Victoria Azarenka 46 64 63 d. Dominika Cibulkova 76(3) 60
Kei Nishikori	2014 US Open	l. Marin Cilic 63 63 63
*Hyeon Chung??*	*2018 Australian Open??*	*v Cilic/Edmund??*

NB Zenzo Shimidzu, of Japan, fell in the All Comers’ final at 1920 Wimbledon prior to the title match in the Challenge Round

Chung is bidding to become the first man to reach his first Tour-level final at a Grand Slam since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached his first Tour-level final here in 2008. The 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals, at which Chung won the title, is not a Tour-level event. (NB Kyle Edmund could also achieve the feat if he reaches the final here)

Chung is contesting his 100th Tour-level match today. He has a 37-31 Tour-level win-loss record on hard courts, compared to 15-12 on clay and 1-2 on grass.

Chung is aiming to become the 4th Korean player – man or woman – in history to reach a Tour-level final. Hyung-Taik Lee is the only Korean man to have reached a Tour-level final – at 2001 Houston and 2003 Sydney, where he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero to become the first Korean man to win a Tour-level title. Duk-Hee Lee (1982 Fort Myers) and Yoon-Jeong Cho (2002 Pattaya, 2003 Auckland, 2006 Canberra) are the only Korean women to have reached Tour-level finals.

Ranked No. 58, Chung is bidding to become the lowest-ranked player to reach a men’s singles Grand Slam final since No. 86 Marat Safin finished runner-up at the 2004 Australian Open. (NB If No. 49 Edmund reaches the final and Chung fails to do so, Edmund will become the lowest-ranked player to reach a men’s singles Grand Slam final since No. 54 Marcos Baghdatis finished runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open)

If Chung reaches the final here, he will be the first player to reach a Grand Slam final unseeded since Tsonga reached the 2008 Australian Open final unseeded. (NB Edmund, also unseeded, could also achieve the feat here if he wins his semifinal)

If both Chung and Edmund reach the final here, it will be the first time in the Open Era that the Australian Open men’s singles final has been contested by 2 unseeded players – and the 2nd time in the Open Era that a Grand Slam final has been contested by 2 unseeded players after 1996 Wimbledon, when Richard Krajicek defeated MaliVai Washington. (NB Written prior to Edmund’s semifinal against Marin Cilic)

At 21 years 254 days Chung is looking to become the youngest man to reach a men’s singles Grand Slam final since Juan Martin del Potro (20 years 355 days) won the title at the 2009 US Open. (NB At 23 years 20 days, Edmund could become the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Murray (22 years 261 days) finished runner-up here in 2010 if he reaches the final and Chung fails to do so)

If Chung reaches the final on his 3rd appearance at the Australian Open, he will become the first man to reach the final here on his 3rd appearance since Marcelo Rios finished runner-up in 1998. Five other men in the Open Era have reached the final here on their 3rd appearance – John Lloyd (December 1977), Brian Teacher (1980), Kevin Curren (1984), Stefan Edberg (1985) and Jim Courier (1992). Of the 6 men to have reached the final here on their 3rd attempt, 3 of them – Teacher, Edberg and Courier – went on to win the title.

If Chung reaches the final on his 8th Grand Slam appearance, he will become just the 2nd man in the Open Era to reach a final on his 8th appearance at a major. Pete Sampras, who won the title at the 1990 US Open, is the only other man in the Open Era to have reached a Grand Slam final on his 8th attempt.

Chung is bidding to record 6 straight wins at Tour-level for the first time in his career. By winning 5 matches to reach the semifinals here, he has recorded his longest Tour-level winning streak at a single event. His only previous streak of 5 Tour-level match-wins spanned 4 victories in singles rubbers over 2 Davis Cup ties (in September 2014 and March 2015) before he reached the 2nd round at 2015 Miami-1000 on his next Tour-level appearance.

Chung is also bidding to record his first victory against a Top 2 player on his 3rd attempt. He lost both his previous matches against Top 2 opposition – to No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the 1st round here in 2016, and to No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the 2nd round at Paris-1000 last year.

By defeating Tennys Sandgren in the quarterfinals here, Chung became the youngest man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam since Cilic (21 years 125 days) reached the last 4 here in 2010.

By reaching the semifinals here, Chung has become the first Korean player – man or woman – in history to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam.

By reaching the semifinals, Chung has also recorded his best Grand Slam result. His previous best Grand Slam performance was reaching the 3rd round at 2017 Roland Garros (l. Kei Nishikori), where he became the 2nd Korean man to reach the 3rd round at a major after Hyung-Taik Lee, who reached the 3rd round at the US Open in 2000, 2004 and 2007, Roland Garros in 2004 and 2005 and at 2007 Wimbledon.

By defeating No. 14 Djokovic in the round of 16 here, Chung has recorded 3 straight match-wins against Top 20 players, having also defeated No. 16 John Isner at 2018 Auckland and No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the 3rd round here. He has a 6-17 win-loss record against Top 20 opposition overall.

By defeating No. 4 Zverev in the 3rd round here, Chung also recorded his career-best victory. His previous career-best victories came against No. 13 David Goffin at 2017 Montreal-1000 and No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut at 2017 Shanghai-1000. His previous best victory at a Grand Slam came against No. 28 Sam Querrey in the 1st round at 2017 Roland Garros.

Chung’s 1st round victory over Mischa Zverev, who retired due to a viral illness while trailing 62 4-1, was his 50th Tour-level match-win.

Last year here Chung reached the 2nd round (d. Renzo Olivo, l. Grigor Dimitrov). Elsewhere at the Grand Slams, he also reached the 2nd round at the US Open (d. Horacio Zeballos, l. Isner) but missed Wimbledon due to a left ankle injury.

Chung’s best result in 2017 is reaching the semifinals at Munich (l. Guido Pella). He also reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier at Barcelona (l. Rafael Nadal) and as a direct acceptance at Winston-Salem (l. Damir Dzumhur), and won the title at the Maui Challenger (USA) (d. Taro Daniel).

Chung warmed up for the Australian Open by reaching the quarterfinals at Auckland (l. David Ferrer) after a 2nd round finish at Brisbane (l. Edmund).

Chung is a former junior world No. 7. He finished as runner-up in the boys’ singles event at 2013 Wimbledon (l. Gianluigi Quinzi) and reached the boys’ singles quarterfinals at both the 2014 Australian Open (l. Alexander Zverev) and 2014 Wimbledon (l. Stefan Kozlov).