10th day of Australian Open saw a total of 9 matches being played under various categories. Except for one match, women’s doubles, which was a semifinal, all other matches were quarterfinals but the games didn’t look like such.
You don’t expect quarterfinals or semifinals to be as one-sided as they were in the Melbourne Park on Wednesday. Out of the 9 matches, 8 were won in straight sets. Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Chung Hyeon all won in straight sets while Roger Federer kept his record of never losing in a quarterfinal of the Australian Open intact.
Let’s have a look at the results.
Roger Federer
Irrespective of saying, Federer’s was one of the matches everyone looked upon, such is the great man’s legacy and fan following.
Up against 19th seeded Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, it seemed like we will see some stiff challenge in the game. Berdych gave the early indications as well. He broke Federer early to take a 5-2 lead in the first set but Federer being Federer, stormed back to win the set 7-1 in tie breaker.
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The next two sets were just a catch up for Berdych, who broke the Swiss legend in the third set but was broken back twice to conceded that advantage.
In the end, second seed Roger Federer won 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-4 to sail into the semifinal for the 14th time. He hit 61 winners.
Hyeon Chung
Hyeon Chung overcame a brief distraction to become the first Korean in the last four of a Grand Slam.
Chung hadn’t let up when upsetting No. 4 Alexander Zverev or six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic en route to the quarterfinals, but he let his guard down for a few points against No. 97-ranked Tennys Sandgren.
He missed four match points in the final game and had to fend off two break points, including one in a 31-shot rally dominated by slice backhands, before finally beating Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
Angelique Kerber
She registered 14th straight win of the year and it could not have been an easier one to enter the semifinal.
She defeated 17th seeded Maddison Keys 6-1, 6-2 to set up a clash with top seeded Simona Halep.
Keys, a 2017 US Open finalist, struggled badly throughout, winning only 18 of 46 points on her serve.
Simona Halep
Just like Federer, the world number Simona Halep also found herself 3-0 down in the first set. But she came back even brilliantly to fend off the next 6 games and win the first set 6-3. She won her match 6-3, 6-2.
Halep dropped only five games in her last eight clash against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday to set up a meeting against Kerber, who swept away Madison Keys 6-1 6-2 to continue her stellar run in 2018.
Rohan Bopanna
India’s Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos of Hungary entered the mixed doubles semifinals at the Australian Open with a straight-set win over Colombian Juan Sebastian Cabal and Abigail Spears of USA, here today.
The fifth seeded Indo-Hungarian pair took one hour and 15 minutes to get the better of Cabal-Spears duo 6-4 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinal duel.