Roger Federer is one win away from a "special 20" in Melbourne. The Swiss will face Marin Cilic in Sunday's Australian Open final, with the opportunity to win his 20th Grand Slam championship and sixth at Melbourne Park. Federer, the defending champion at Melbourne Park, booked his place in a 30th major final when leading 6-1, 5-2 against South Korea’s Hyeon Chung, the Next Gen ATP Finals winner, who retired due to blisters on his left foot. "20 times special," said Federer. "It would be amazing. I can't believe how fast now the week has turned out to be. It ain't just an easy trip to the finals. There's always a lot of work that goes into it during the...
Marin Cilic was superb on serve and played with great focus on Thursday night to become the first Croatian to reach the Australian Open final, which represents his third Grand Slam championship title match (also 2014 US Open, 2017 Wimbledon). The 29-year-old, competing in a semi-final at Melbourne Park for the second time (also 2010), used his big-match experience at key moments to defeat Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours and 18 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. "I think in the second set I was a bit up and down with my game and not getting enough returns back," Cilic told Jim Courier, in an on-court interview. "He started to serve quite good. I stayed...
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic extended their winning streak in 2018 and are riding on the crest of a wave in Melbourne. The seventh-seeded team from Austria and Croatia used their collective experience on Thursday to book a place in the Australian Open final after overcoming Japan’s Ben Mclachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) in two hours and 26 minutes. Marach and Pavic battled back from a 1/3 deficit in the deciding set tie-break, putting Mclachlan and Struff under pressure to commit four groundstroke errors – two forehand and two backhand – as the seventh seeds won six of the next seven points. Marach, 37, and 24-year-old Pavic are now 13 matches unbeaten this year. Prior to...
It may be early in the season, but Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic are garnering the headlines for their exceptional start. Now 12 matches unbeaten in 2018, the Austrian-Croatian team is through to the Australian Open semi-finals. Seventh seeds Marach and Pavic grit their teeth and held their nerves to knock out Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Great Britain’s Dominic Inglot 6-4, 6-7(10), 7-6(5) in two hours and 40 minutes on Tuesday. The in-form pair recovered from an 0/5 deficit in the second set tie-break by winning six straight points, but was unable to convert match point opportunities at 6/5, 8/7 and 10/9. With no service breaks in the deciding set, both teams swung freely in the tie-break before...
Roger Federer continued his pursuit of a 20th Grand Slam championship crown on Wednesday night when he booked his place in the Australian Open semi-finals. The Swiss superstar, bidding to retain his crown and lift a sixth trophy at Melbourne Park, fought back from Tomas Berdych’s promising start to record a 7-6(1), 6-3, 6-4 victory on Rod Laver Arena. Berdych, the No. 19 seed, took a 3-0 lead and missed out on two set point opportunities at 5-3 and 6-5 in the first set, only for Federer to apply the pressure and regain control of the pair’s 26th FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting (Federer now leads 20-6). "I hung around, got a bit lucky, a bit angry, a frustrated, maybe at...
