Australian Open – Zheng Xuan withdraws in the second set; Federer advances to the final to face Cilic

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　　According to reports from Beijing time on January 26, the 12th day of competition at the 2018 Australian Open tennis tournament was in progress. In the men’s singles semifinals, top seed and defending champion Federer was leading South Korean rookie Chung Hyeon 6-1/5-2 when the latter withdrew from the match. Federer will face Cilic, who advanced a day earlier in the final; the Swiss champion will be striving for his sixth Australian Open title and his 20th Grand Slam title. 　　For Federer, this is his 14th time reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open men’s singles tournament. For Chung Hyeon, it is his first time reaching the semifinals of a Grand Slam event. By defeating Zverev and Djokovic in previous rounds, he became the first Korean player to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. He is also the youngest player to reach the Australian Open men’s singles semifinals since Cilic in 2010, as well as the lowest-ranked player to do so since Safin in 2004. The two players differ by 14 years and 284 days in age, making it the fourth-largest age gap in men’s Grand Slam semifinals in recent history. 　　The match began with the Korean player serving first; although he saved the first two break points, he failed to hold his serve. Federer also faced a break point in his own serve game later on, but the Swiss legend managed to overcome it and took a 2-0 lead. Jeong Hyeon fell behind again in the 5th game, as Federer broke his serve for the second time, further expanding his lead. In Jeong Hyeon’s serve game, which was crucial for him to win, Federer kept applying pressure and seized the fifth set point to take the first set 6-1. 　　In the second set, Federer continued to hold control of the match; after breaking his opponent’s serve in the fourth game, he quickly established a 4-1 lead. Jeong Hyun’s performance remains poor. With Federer leading 5-2, Zheng Xuan decided to withdraw, allowing Federer to advance easily and face Cilic in the final. This is his seventh appearance in the Australian Open final.