Chung Upends Djokovic To Reach First Major Quarterfinal
Hyeon Chung became the first player from his native South Korea to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal on Monday as the 21-year-old won the biggest match of his career with a 7-6(4), 7-5, 7-6(3) win over six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
Chung seemed to be in control of this match from the very onset, building off of his 6-0 victory in a final fifth set against fourth-seed Alexander Zverev in the previous round. He raced out to a break advantage in each set against Djokovic, and even after the Serb continued to pull even, Chung’s composure saw him through.
“I’m just trying to focus every day, every time, every moment in Grand Slam,” said Chung, who said Djokovic was one of his idols growing up. “I’m happy to stay on court, big stadium, Melbourne, really good fans. I’m just happy to be there.”
Chung will look to continue his run as he takes on another player many people did not expect to be at this stage of the tournament in American Tennys Sandgren. The last American man left in the draw took out fifth-seed Dominic Thiem 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(7), 6-3 in his first ever five-set affair.
“I don’t know, I’m in disbelief, I don’t know if this is a dream or not,” said Sandgren. “It’s pretty cool. He played some really, really great tennis. I knew I had to take my chances. I knew from the back he could out-strike me, so I knew I had to be aggressive. Thankfully it worked out in the end.”
While Thiem had more winners overall, Sandgren was better on the big points and saved 10 break points throughout the contest while converting on the only one of the deciding fifth set.
Defending champion Roger Federer cruised into the final eight with a 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics. Federer will play 19th seed Tomas Berdych next. Berdych wiped out Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Federer is 19-6 all-time against Berdych.
