American Sandgren Upsets Wawrinka at Australian Open
The 2018 Australian Open has not been kind to the American men and women, but 97th ranked Tennys Sandgren did not let that deter him on Thursday as he notched the biggest win of his career with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 upset over ninth-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
“This would definitely be all the categories: biggest win, biggest moment of getting a victory, setting me up for the biggest stage to play third round of a slam, the biggest opportunity. All those good things,” Sandgren reflected. “It’s something going into a tournament like this, you don’t know if you’ll get an opportunity or a look or even be able to take advantage of it. So to come out of it with a victory, it’s a huge deal for me, a huge deal for me, and something that if I don’t ever get another accomplishment, I can at least hang my hat on this one.”
Sandgren took advantage of the obvious rust on Wawrinka from the onset. Playing in only his second match since Wimbledon, Wawrinka saw Sandgren rattle off nine straight gamed from 2-2 in the opening set to seize control of the match.
In all, Sandgren fired 32 winners to keep Wawrinka off-balance, and saved the only two break points he faced.
In the third-round, Sandgren will square off with Germany’s Maximilian Marterer, who got past Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday.
Defending champion Roger Federer faced no issues in his second-round showdown as he moved past Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(4). He draws an intriguing matchup with 29th seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet next.
Six-time champion Novak Djokovic battled past the brutal heat and Gael Monfils to advance, coming back from a set down to defeat the Frenchman 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
“The conditions were brutal, that’s for sure,” Djokovic said afterwards. “I mean, we both struggled. Maybe he struggled a bit more, you know, in a period, end of the second set, [the] entire third set. That’s where I think I managed to get on top of him.”
Djokovic will play 31st seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas next. The Spaniard ousted American Tim Smyczek in straight sets.
Dominic Thiem booked his spot in the third round with a comeback over American Denis Kudla, fighting back from two sets down to win 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. He will play Adrian Mannarino, the 26th seeded Frenchman next.
Juan Martin del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Alex Zverev and Hyeon Chung were other notable winners on the men’s side on Thursday. American Sam Querrey was upset by Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in four sets.
