South Korea's Hyeon Chung receives treatment from a trainer during his semifinal against Switzerland's Roger Federer. Photo / AP.
South Korea's Hyeon Chung receives treatment from a trainer during his semifinal against Switzerland's Roger Federer. Photo / AP.
The Australian Open men's semi-finals were let-downs of gargantuan proportions.
Hyeon Chung retired injured in the second set of his clash against Roger Federer on Friday night and Marin Cilic eased past Kyle Edmund in straight sets on Thursday. They were boring matches that — if viewers watched both in their entirety — robbed them of three hours and 20 minutes of their lives they will never get back.
What should have been a crescendo of fiery forehands and breathtaking backhands building up to the biggest match of the tournament fizzled into a horribly off-key showing that left despairing punters crying out for more.
Federer was at his sublime best against Chung, taking the first set 6-1 and racing to a 5-2 lead in the second before the Korean pulled the pin after 62 minutes on court. The 21-year-old playing in his first ever grand slam semi was overawed, overpowered and overrun by a Fed Express that keeps gaining momentum.
Seeing Federer at his best is a privilege — one which we should be thankful of — but it looked like he was a fully grown Alsatian in a fight against a newborn poodle.
Hyeon Chung retires trailing 6-1, 5-2, and Roger Federer is into the #AusOpen final, vs Cilic.
What a disappointing pair of semifinals for the men, yikes.
Chung had defeated Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev — both class players — to reach the final four, but few gave him any hope of upsetting a 19-time grand slam champion. And Federer proved the majority right.
It wasn't even a contest. Had Chung not retired, some may have called for the the mercy rule to be enforced.
Credit where it's due, though. The World No. 58's giant-killing run turned him into a cult hero as he went deeper than anyone could possibly have imagined.
But that doesn't mean Chung's final outing was fun for anyone to watch. His withdrawal only brought an early end to what would surely have been a bloodbath almost too cringe-worthy to witness.
South Korea's Hyeon Chung receives treatment from a trainer during his semifinal against Switzerland's Roger Federer. Photo / AP.
Those sorts of one-sided affairs are commonplace in the early rounds, but in a grand slam semi? No thanks — nobody wants to see that.
Cilic's 6-2 7-6 6-2 win over Edmund was as forgettable as Chung's retirement was shocking. The Brit battled bravely through a hip issue but it clearly got the better of him and although he fought until the end, he was unable to keep pace with the 29-year-old.
Edmund was unable to put up any resistance in the first and third sets against the Croatian. Those who watched the two-hour and 18 minute battle will have been underwhelmed with the lack of headline-grabbing moments or points worthy of a replay.
These were two solid players — one of whom had a body that didn't let him perform at his peak — playing solid tennis. Nothing more.
Cilic is quality. The World No. 6 won the 2014 US Open and made last year's Wimbledon final, which he lost to Federer, so nobody can begrudge him making the decider. He was clinical in achieving his desired result.
But will anybody remember the win that got him to the last day of the tournament? We don't think so.
Edmund enhanced his reputation by punching above his weight, winning two five-setters and two four-setters en route to the final four. He deserves plenty of praise for that, no question.
But this isn't about what happened throughout the tournament, this is about one specific match — and it under-delivered. Some may say it's short-sighted to expect fireworks in every match of a two-week grand slam and that's fair enough, but if you're tuning into a semi-final, you're entitled to hope for something better than you'd see in the preceding five rounds.
This was the side of the draw that could have produced a Nadal-Kyrgios or a Nadal-Dimitrov semi-final. Surely one of those match-ups would have resulted in more excitement than what we saw on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night.
Perhaps Nadal would have overcome Cilic had he not been struck down with a hip injury, and maybe Djokovic would have been playing Federer on Friday if it wasn't for a dodgy elbow that saw him operate under full capacity and lose to Chung.
You can't help but feel having at least one of those two in the semis alongside Federer would have increased the likelihood of something worth watching actually occurring across the two nights.
The boring spectacles that were the men's semis only seem worse when compared to what we witnessed on the women's side of the draw. Simona Halep's incredible 6-3 4-6 9-7 win over Angelique Kerber was two hours and 20 minutes of pure ecstasy for fans — and pure hell for the players.
The top seed and the rampaging German delivered a match worthy of a grand slam final, not just a semi, as they pushed themselves to the brink and beyond in an exhilarating show full of courage and captivating rallies.
One point emerged as a contender for point of the tournament. "That was literally one of the most extraordinary points that I have ever seen courtside here at the Australian Open. That was unbelievable," Channel Seven's Sam Smith said.
Kerber was running on one leg and Halep too was cooked, but neither gave an inch. Barring a miracle in either of the finals, it will go down as the best match of the year's first major.
So glad I bought tickets to the WTA semis instead of the men's this year. Halep v Kerber was AMAZING to watch live. #AusOpen
Caroline Wozniacki's win over Elise Mertens in Thursday's other semi-final took everyone on a rollercoaster ride. The Dane had to dig deeper than she ever has in Australia to come back from losing eight straight points near the end of the second set to fight her way to a 7-2 tiebreak win that clinched the match.
Serving at 30-0 while up 5-4 in the second, Wozniacki choked badly, a double fault handing Mertens the game before the Belgian launched her rescue mission.
The former World No. 1 eventually recovered to win the breaker and book her spot in the final — but only after an intense episode that had everyone fearing the worst.
We can only hope Wozniacki and Halep deliver drama of similar proportions when they meet on Saturday. After what we saw in the men's semi-finals, the Australian Open needs it.
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