Seven won Federer matchballs, Djokovic quick victory and protests against Court: results of the ninth day of the Australian Open

Federer's incredible comeback

Australia's first semi-finalist was determined in a match between Roger Federer and Tennis Sandgren. The third racket of the world was opposed by the hundredth. In case of victory, the American could become the lowest rated semi-finalist of the Australian Open since 1991, when Patrick McEnroe reached the 114th stage in the world ranking.

And this scenario almost came true. After winning the first set Federer lost the next two, and scored in them only four games. For the second batch alone, the Swiss made 15 unforced errors. Ex-the first racket of the world, this situation began to get on your nerves, and once he even received a warning for swearing. With the score 0-3 in the third set Federer also took a medical time out and left the court for a while.

As close as possible to victory, Sandgren crept up in the tenth game of the fourth set, when he earned a matchball on the pitch of the Swiss, who had never lost in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. But neither this chance, nor two subsequent ones, was used by the American because of his own mistakes.

The fourth set smoothly reached the tie-break, in which Federer hung in the balance, losing 3: 6 and 6: 7. And again, everything worked out for him - Sandgren did not realize any of the seven matchballs, and six of them through his own fault, and lost the game.

In the fifth set Federer already calmly dominated a psychologically broken opponent. When the Swiss earned the first matchball with a score of 5: 3, he immediately realized it, showing how the great champions do it. Federer entered the Australian Open semi-finals for the 15th time, and for the first time in the “majors” he did not need to beat his rivals from the top 40 of the ATP rating.

Interestingly, Federer lost to Sandgren in the number of games won - in total there were 23 from the Swiss and 24 from the American tennis player. The only time in the career of the ex-first racket of the world this happened at the Grand Slam tournaments in a meeting with Andy Roddick at Wimbledon 2009.

Federer finds a way 🇨🇭 @ rogerfederer saves seven match points to def. Tennys Sandgren 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6 (8) 6-3 and reach the #AusOpen semifinals for the 15th time. # AO2020pic.twitter.com / B3Biy3q1Ez

Sprint Djokovic to the semifinals

Federer’s next opponent was determined in the match of Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic, and the Swiss wanted the Serbian tennis player to go the least. Federer lost the second racket of the world for the last three meetings at the Australian Open, and all of them fell just to the semifinals. But the current winner of the tournament continued to defend his title and beat the Canadian tennis player for the tenth time in a row.

Raonic was unable to offer Djokovic anything that the 16-time winner of the majors could not have done. For the entire match, which consisted of three sets, the Serbian tennis player had to play only two break points, which he easily coped with. Djokovic did not give reason to doubt his superiority, although he finished the first game only with the third setball.

The intrigue of the match was returned to the 11th game of the third set - Djokovic didn’t manage to win the opponent’s serve, although he had four attempts to do this. Raonic’s resistance turned the set into a tie-break, but in it the Serbian tennis player finished the job, giving the opponent only one point. The match between Djokovic and Federer in the Australian Open semifinal will be their 50th meeting between themselves, and so far the Swiss are losing in this confrontation.

Serbian sensation 🇷🇸 @ DjokerNole def. Milos Raonic 6-4 6-3 7-6 (1) to advance to his eighth #AusOpen semifinal, where he will meet Roger Federer for the 50th time. # AO2020pic.twitter.com / ElT6H9jDAE

American Dream Kenin

For the American, Sophia Kenin and the Tunisian Uns Jabir, reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open was already the highest achievement in her career. On Tuesday, one of them had the opportunity to go even further and for the first time in his life to be in the semifinals of the Grand Slam tournament. Before the match, Tunisian President Kashi Said personally called Jabir to wish her good luck, but this did not help her beat the 15th racket of the world.

Kenin led early in the first set, taking the opponent’s pitch to zero. However, when the score was 3: 2, she made a double mistake, which brought Jabir a double break point, which was quickly implemented. Tunisia played aggressively at the net and regularly earned points on aces, but this did not help her even the score when an American born in Moscow again led with a break. In the ninth and tenth games, the African played five setballs, but still could not escape from defeat in the first installment.

Jabir had a great chance to turn the tide when in the second set she had three break points with a score of 3: 2 in her favor. But the 78th racket of the world missed its chance, and then too many errors began to appear in her game, which Kenin enjoyed using. Soon, she took the opponent’s serve and brought the matter to victory, ending the match with only 16 unforced errors. The 21-year-old tennis player secured the 11th position in the WTA ranking, the highest in her career, and at the end of the Australian Open will become the second US racket after Serena Williams.

🇺🇸 Semis for Sonya 🇺🇸 @ SofiaKenin advances to a first career Grand Slam final four downing Jabeur 6-4 6-4. # AusOpen | # AO2020pic.twitter.com / NmMLbx1lhF

Barty's first victory over a top 10 player

In the semifinals, Kenin will face the first racket of the world Ashley Barty. She defeated Petra Kvitova and became the first Australian tennis player to make it to the semifinals of the home tournament since he began to take place on the hard surface. Wendy Turnbull did the last before changing grass to hard in 1984.

The meeting between Barty and Kvitova was a repeat of last year’s quarter-finals, in which Czech won over the rival for the fourth time in a row. Since then, in one year, Barty managed to win three fights between them, and now completely equalized the score in her personal confrontation with the eighth racket of the world.

The start of the match turned out to be extremely stubborn and nervous - both tennis players had problems with the pitch, which is why break points arose one after another. But no one was able to take the last step to break ahead in the first set. Indicative was a ten-minute seventh game in which Kvitova did not implement any of the five break points. On a tie-break, Barty’s nerves were also stronger - she played the setball and won the first game herself.

In the second set, the first racket of the world no longer allowed the opponent to raise their heads. She immediately led 4-0. Kvitova was able to play one break, but immediately made a double mistake at the crucial moment of the next game. At the end of the match, the Czech tennis player tried to come up with something on someone else's serve, but Barty ended up with an ace. The Australian for the first time in Grand Slam tournaments beat an opponent from the top ten of the WTA rating.

🌍 No. 1⃣ for a reason. @ashbarty breaks Kvitova again for a 5-2 lead in the second set.

She's four points away from a spot in the # AO2020 semifinals. # AusOpenpic.twitter.com / 7jp0eejFCs

Protests of Navratilova and Makinroy

The story of the celebration of the former Australian tennis player Margaret Court, who collected the entire tennis Grand Slam 50 years ago, got a scandalous continuation. After the organizers of the Australian Open invited her to the competition and congratulated her on her anniversary, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe criticized the event.

On Tuesday, both ex-tennis players went further. After the match of the tournament of legends, Navratilova occupied the referee’s tower and tried to deliver a speech to the audience in the stands, until the organizers turned off her microphone. After that, the former tennis player, who had done a come-out in the past, along with Mackinaw unfurled a banner with the inscription "Yvonne Gulagong Arena" - so they proposed to rename the second most important Australian Open court, named by Margaret Court, in honor of another great athlete.

The Directorate of the Australian Open in response stated that Navratilova and Mackinroy violated the competition protocol. In relation to former tennis players, a trial has begun.