KOREAN STAR ENDS DJOKOVIC’S OPEN DREAM
SIX- TIME Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is out after a stunning straight sets loss to unseeded South Korean young gun Hyeon Chung.
Djokovic looked in trouble early, going down 4- 0 in the first set, and never looked right as Chung claimed a 7- 6( 4) 7- 5 7- 6( 3) victory.
It was the first time since 2007 that Djokovic has lost in straight sets at the Australian Open.
Chung earned the first minibreak with a huge crosscourt forehand before Djokovic then handed him another for 3- 0.
Djokovic then got them both back, winning three straight points, before hitting one long to hand the advantage back to Chung. An insane point at 4- 3 went Chung’s way, and he then held firm.
“When I was younger I was just trying to copy Novak, because he was my idol,” Chung said postmatch. He is the first Korean, man or woman, to make the quarter finals of a grand slam.
Another boilover on Hisense Arena means it will be a simply ridiculous sounding quarter final tomorrow – Chung vs world no. 97 Tennys Sandgren.
Sandgren defeated fifth seed Dominic Thiem 6- 2 4- 6 7- 6( 4) 6- 7( 7) 6- 3. He had a match point at 6- 5 in the fourth set tiebreak but a brilliant down the line shot from Thiem kept him in the tournament.
However in the fifth set, Sandgren broke the Austrian’s serve. Before this tournament he had never won a match at a grand slam.
Djokovic missed all tournaments between Wimbledon and the Australian Open with a right elbow injury, while also having his hip looked after in the previous rounds.
While stretching for a point down a break in the second set, Djokovic came up looking to be in agony, but continued in the match. He requested trainer attention for his right elbow after the first set.
Djokovic had seven double faults in a first set that started terribly for him, with unforced errors galore allowing Chung to double break him for a 4- 0 lead.
Djokovic then broke back twice, including as Chung served for the set at 5- 4, but a crucial double fault in the tiebreak gave the South Korean the set.
Chung lost to Djokovic in the first round at this event two years ago, but has improved greatly since then, winning the Next Gen ATP Finals last November which featured fellow young guns Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Denis Shapovalov.
He also impressively downed Alexander Zverev in five sets in the third round. Channel 7 commentator Jim Courier described Chung pre- match as a “very, very good imitation of Djokovic”.
Earlier, Roger Federer conserved some much needed energy while making history in his fourth round win over Marton Fucsovics.