Chung
can end 'Big Four' era with semi-final win
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[January 25, 2018]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - It is fair
bet that few would have picked South Korean Chung Hyeon to be the
player to break the dominance Roger Federer and the other members of
the "Big Four" have had at the Australian Open over the last 13
years.
The 21-year-old has enjoyed an amazing run over the last two weeks
and if he can get past Federer in Friday's semi-final, it would
ensure a final without the Swiss, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray or
Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2005.
In fact, barring 2014 when Stan Wawrinka won the title, no player
apart from the quartet has even been involved in the men's final at
Melbourne Park since 2008.
With Marin Cilic and Kyle Edmund lining up in the other semi-final,
that particular dominance is already destined to be broken and Chung
denying Federer a place in his 30th grand slam final remains a huge
"if".

Defending his title as second seed, the 19-times grand slam has yet
to give up a set as he has moved through the draw on his mission to
match Djokovic's professional era record of six Melbourne titles.
Djokovic, albeit a Djokovic returning from six months on the
sidelines, was world number 58 Chung's most notable victim on his
run to the last four and the manner of his victory caught even
Federer's attention.
"I'm very excited to play Chung. I thought he played an incredible
match against Novak," the 36-year-old said.
"I mean, to beat him here is one of the tough things to do in our
sport, I believe. I know that Novak maybe wasn't at 110 percent, but
he was all right. He was giving it a fight till the very end. To
close it out, that was mighty impressive.
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Chung Hyeon of South Korea hits a shot against Tennys Sandgren of
the U.S. REUTERS/Issei Kato

"I think it's an interesting match for me. I'll definitely have to
look into how I need to play against him because he has some great
qualities, especially defensively, like Novak has.
"One thing I know is I'm going to be playing aggressive. I don't
know how I'm going to do that exactly yet."
Although Chung won the Next Gen Finals last year, his meteoric rise
to the top table of the tennis world is indicated by the fact that
he will be bidding to become the first man in a decade to play his
first tour final at a grand slam.
His run through the tournament has stunned even him.
"I'm really surprised," he said. "I make semis, I beat like Sascha
(fourth seed Alexander Zverev), Novak, the other good players. I
never playing in second week in grand slam, so I'm really
surprised."
Match factbox:
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney; Editing by John O'Brien)
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