Djokovic, Thiem out at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Six-time champion Novak Djokovic was stunned in straight sets by Hyeon Chung not long after Tennys Sandgren upset No. 5 Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open.
The back-to-back upsets Monday resulted in a long shot of a quarter-final: Chung, the first Korean to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam, versus 97th-ranked Sandgren, who had never won a match at a major or defeated a top10 player until last week.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu of China advanced to the fourth round in women’s doubles, beating Shuko Aoyama and Zhaoxuan Yang 7-6 (6), 6-1.
The 58th-ranked Chung relentlessly attacked Djokovic — who is playing his first tournament since Wimbledon following a right elbow injury — in the 7-6 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (3) fourth-round win.
Chung credited Djokovic, who needed a medical timeout in the second set for a massage on his sore elbow, for the inspiration.
“When I’m young, I’m just trying to copy Novak because he’s my idol,” he said.
“I can’t believe this tonight. Dreams come true tonight.”
Djokovic, who winced and grimaced throughout the match, said he’d need to reassess the treatment for his elbow, but didn’t want injuries to detract from Chung ’s win.
“Amazing. Amazing performance,” Djokovic said.
Sandgren, 26, missed a match point in the fourth set but held on for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-3 win over Thiem. It followed up his earlier victory over 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka. Roger Federer reached the quarter-finals for the 14th time, defeating Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Angelique Kerber got a serious wake-up call against No. 88 Hsieh Su-wei until she regained momentum for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win.
In other fourth-round results, No. 19 Tomas Berdych beat No. 25 Fabio Fognini, No. 1 Simona Halep beat Naomi Osaka, No. 6 Karolina Pliskova beat No. 20 Barbora Strycova and No. 17 Madison Keys beat No. 8 Caroline Garcia.