Roger Federer cruised through to his 43rd Grand Slam semi-final last night, brushing aside Berdych’s stiff challenge to set up a pulsating clash with South Korea’s Hyeon Chung.
While the scoreline would suggest a rather straight forward win for Roger, it wasn’t quite so, as Berdych took the early advantage in the first set. Roger was clearly a little flustered, as he wasn’t striking the ball as well, and at one point, vented it all out on the Chair Umpire.
On one particular Berdych serve, Federer went in for the challenge, with the ball kissing the line, and Federer having to give up the point.
But the problem with the entire situation was that the visuals for the hawk-eye were not available for the public and for Federer to see.
The chair umpire announced that the visuals won’t be available, and that the ball was indeed ‘in’.
Federer then promptly walked up to the chair umpire, asking him if he felt right in docking Federer’s challenge, when the visual of the hawk-eye wasn’t available for Federer to see.
Check out the video:
Federer was clearly a little flustered with his game at that point and wanted some outlet, and thus ended up having a little argument with the chair umpire.
What’s ahead?
Federer will now take on Chung in what promises to be a highly entertaining semi-final. Chung would want to put his initial jitters of playing at such a big stage behind him, whereas Federer would be hoping to keep the points short, against Chung, who is someone who likes to indulge in long baseline rallies and chase down all balls possible.
The duo would take on the winner of Kyle Edmund and Marin Cilic, with Edmund vying to make it to his first grand slam final and Cilic hoping to add to his solitary US Open title.
