Tension and intrigue at the Australian Open semi-finals

We are down to the last four in both the men’s and women’s singles at the Australian Open, and while all eyes will be on Roger Federer to see whether he can land his milestone 20th major title, the battle for the women’s world number one ranking will also be a major plot point.

In the men’s semi-finals Marin Cilic and Roger Federer are favoured to set up a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final when they face Kyle Edmund and Hyeon Chung respectively.

Rafael Nadal’s injury-enforced retirement against Cilic in the quarter-finals has seen Federer installed as the hottest of favourites to retain his crown, which he unexpectedly won last year after having missed the second half of the 2016 season with a knee injury.

True to form, the Swiss maestro overcame a slow start, falling behind 2-5 in the opening set, to overhaul Tomas Berdych in straight sets and advance to his 14th semi-final at Melbourne Park in 15 years.

There he will face the giant killer that is Korea’s Hyeon Chung, who is the first man or woman from his country to reach a grand slam semi-final.

The 21-year-old, who won last year’s ATP Next Gen Finals title, proved that his fourth-round win against six-time champion Novak Djokovic was no fluke, defeating his American opponent, the appropriately-named Tennys Sandgren, in straight sets.

He is now aiming to become the first unseeded man since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a decade ago to reach the final at Melbourne Park, but standing in his way will be Federer, who for the fourth time has advanced to the final four without dropping a set.

This will be their first career meeting.

(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The other semi-final will see Marin Cilic start the prohibitive favourite to reach his third grand slam final and second final in the past three tournaments when he faces another unseeded opponent in Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund.

Edmund caused a boilover when he defeated world number three Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals and is now just one win away from unseating Andy Murray as the top-ranked British player.

This was a reversal from their quarter-final clash at the Brisbane International, where he suffered an ankle injury at four-all in the third set, throwing his Australian Open preparations into chaos.

But he has embarked on an unbelievable run in Melbourne, first upsetting 11th seed and last year’s US Open finalist Kevin Anderson in the first round and then knocking out Denis Istomin, the same man who 12 months ago upset Novak Djokovic at the same stage, in the second round.

Further wins over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Andreas Seppi sent him into his first grand slam quarter-final where, with nothing to lose, he toppled Dimitrov in four sets to reach the last four at a major for the first time, where former US Open champion Cilic will await.

The pair has met only once before, with Cilic winning in straight sets in the second round of the Shanghai Masters last year.

(Wiki Commons)

The women’s semis will see world number two Caroline Wozniacki face off against Elise Mertens in one match and world number one Simona Halep and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in the other.

Mertens has become the sixth consecutive first-time grand slam semi-finalist the Australian Open has produced, following Sloane Stephens (2013), Eugenie Bouchard (2014), Madison Keys (2015), Johanna Konta (2016) and Coco Vandeweghe (2017).

The unseeded Belgian is the first player from her country to get this far at a major since Kirsten Flipkens at Wimbledon in 2013 and. She’s also the first Belgian to reach the semi-finals at the Australian Open since her idol, Kim Clijsters, in 2012.

As someone pointed out on Twitter, a Belgian player has won the tournament on both occasions Serena Williams has been unable to defend an Australian Open title due to injury.

Interesting was that they happened seven years apart – Justine Henin won in 2004 and Clijsters reigned in 2011, both winning their respective finals against Clijsters and Li Na in three sets.

Now 2018, is it bound to happen again?

Wozniacki has reached her first Australian Open semi-final since 2011, when she lost to Li Na in three sets after holding a match point in the second set. She will be hoping history doesn’t repeat this time around.

The Dane has enjoyed a career renaissance after reaching the last four at the US Open in 2016 while unseeded after an ankle injury suffered during the clay court season saw her ranking drop to as low as 74th.

Last year she won the biggest title of her career when she defeated Venus Williams to win the WTA Finals in Singapore, but not before a dismal grand slam season in which her best result was reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

She fell early at the other three majors, losing to Johanna Konta, Coco Vandeweghe and Ekaterina Makarova in the third, fourth and second rounds of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and French Open respectively.

En route to her first semi-final at Melbourne Park in seven years, the 27-year-old had to save a match point in her second-round match against Jana Fett. A year to the day after being embarrassed by Konta, she dished out the same punishment to Magdalena Rybarikova, dropping just three games.

It will be the second time that she faces Elise Mertens, whose run to the last four included wins over Daria Gavrilova for the second time this month and fourth seed Elina Svitolina.

Now Wozniacki has the chance to reclaim the world number one ranking exactly six years after losing it by reaching the final, where she could be up against the incumbent, Simona Halep.

This is the world number one equation as it stands.

Halep will keep the world number one ranking if:

• both she and Wozniacki lose their respective semi-finals;
• she beats Wozniacki in the final; or
• she reaches the final and Wozniacki does not.

Wozniacki will become world number one if:

• she reaches the final and Halep does not; or
• she beats Halep in the final.

This means that if seedings hold and Halep and Wozniacki meet in Saturday night’s championship match, the world number one ranking will be decided there.

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Halep, for her part, will face 21st seed Angelique Kerber in the second semi-final after both registered impressive wins over the past two beaten US Open finalists, Karolina Pliskova and Madison Keys, in their respective quarter-final matches.

The Romanian came from 0-3 down in the opening set to overhaul sixth-seeded Pliskova, losing just two more games for the remainder of the match to reach her first semi-final at Melbourne Park and complete her set of having got this far at all four of the majors.

All of a sudden the ankle injury she suffered in her first match against Destanee Aiava and the marathon third-round match against Lauren Davis in which she saved three match points at 10-11 and won it 15-13 in the final set are all a distant memory.

Kerber, on the other hand, was just as impressive, dropping just three games against Keys, the result meaning she will re-enter the world’s top ten when the rankings are updated on Monday.

It marked the German’s tenth consecutive win – 14th if you include her four wins at the Hopman Cup, which don’t count towards official WTA rankings – to start 2018, which is the strongest indication yet that her best tennis is not yet behind her, as was suggested last year when she dropped out of the top 20.

The match between Halep and Kerber will be their tenth career meeting but their first since the 2016 WTA Finals and first at a major since Wimbledon 2016, both won by the latter.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

All is set for what should be a nail-biter of a conclusion to the year’s opening grand slam tournament.

Will Roger Federer stand tall and claim his milestone 20th major singles title or will there be a surprise grand slam champion, like when Gaston Gaudio came from the back of the field to win the French Open in 2004 or when Thomas Johansson won this tournament in 2002?

Can Angelique Kerber win her second title in three years or will someone new finally get their time in the sun?

Matches on Day 11
Not before 2pm
Elise Mertens (BEL) versus Caroline Wozniacki [2] (DEN)

Not before 4pm
Simona Halep [1] (ROU) versus Angelique Kerber [21] (GER)

Not before 7:30pm
Marin Cilic [6] (CRO) versus Kyle Edmund (GBR)

Match on Day 12
Not before 7:30pm (TBC)
Hyeon Chung (KOR) versus Roger Federer [2] (SUI)

Predicted championship matches
Men: Marin Cilic [6] (CRO) versus Roger Federer [2] (SUI)
Women: Angelique Kerber [21] (GER) versus Caroline Wozniacki [2] (DEN)