Marin Cilic will find out who he will face in Sunday’s Australian Open on Friday when Hyeon Chung takes on Roger Federer in the second men’s semi-final on the Rod Laver Arena out in Melbourne as the first Grand Slam of the year draws towards a close.
Cilic saw off the challenge of Kyle Edmund in straight sets on Thursday and Federer will be aiming to put the other next-gen star to bed every bit as emphatically. Chung should have other ideas though.
Hyeon Chung
If those who follow tennis were not aware of the Korean star before this tournament then they certainly are now. To be fair you should know him as he won the Next Gen Finals in November and he has certainly proved that his result there was no fluke with the flamboyant tennis he has played this fortnight.
Chung has already seen off a couple of big fish in Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic in this tournament and now he is looking for the biggest scalp of the lot. He had a bit of fortune along the way though with Mischa Zverev turning up for the prize money and his quarter final opponent Tennys Sandgren clearly jaded by the time they played but he’s here on merit.
Roger Federer
The Swiss legend was the favourite for this tournament before a ball was hit in it and he is an emphatic one now. That is perfectly understandable because not only is he the top seed left in the tournament but he has cruised through a potentially awkward draw without dropping a set so far in the event.
In the last three rounds Richard Gasquet, Marton Fucsovics and Tomas Berdych were all ruthlessly dismissed. That leaves the legend of the game just two wins away from an amazing 20th Grand Slam title and it would be a brave man to bet against him doing it over this weekend. His movement and his stroke playing is as classy as ever.
Head to Head
If there is one thing that Hyeon Chung has going for him it is that he has no battle scars against Federer because the two men have never played each other. This will be their first meeting in their career let alone in a Grand Slam.
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Betting
Chung has done brilliantly to make it this far in the tournament but I suspect his run ends here and you’ve got to think it will do so in fairly ruthless and brutal style. Any chance there might have been in Roger Federer taking the Korean lightly disappeared when he took care of Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
Federer will be out to get this won as quickly and as emphatically as possible. He hasn’t dropped a set in the tournament to date and I’m not convinced that Chung has the weapons to change that here. In a tight three sets I expect Federer to play the big moments better and if the Korean is nervous or jaded like Edmund was in his semi on Thursday then the Swiss player will dominate more. The even money Federer wins this in straight sets looks the way forward.
Tips
VOID – Back R.Federer to win 3-0 for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
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