Djokovic, Thiem out; Chung, Sandgren in
MELBOURNE, Australia — Even by Australian Open standards, back-toback shockers have resulted in a most unexpected quarterfinal.
The season-opening Grand Slam has a tendency to be unpredictable, but losing six-time champion Novak Djokovic and fifthranked Dominic Thiem within a few hours Monday leaves Hyeon Chung and Tennys Sandgren playing for a spot in the semifinals.
The 58th-ranked Chung relentlessly attacked a clearly injured Djokovic in the fourth round, winning 7-6 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (3) and becoming the first South Korean to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam.
Then there is Tennys. The 26-year-old from Tennessee never had won a Grand Slam match or beaten a top-10 player until last week. The 97th-ranked Sandgren beat Thiem 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-3, following up his earlier win over 2014 Australian Open champ Stan Wawrinka.
Pain took its toll
The bespectacled Chung ripped 47 winners, including a forehand on the slide and at full stretch that put him within two points of victory and credited Djokovic as his inspiration.
“When I’m young, I’m just trying to copy Novak because he’s my idol,” Chung said. “I can’t believe this tonight. Dreams come true tonight.”
Djokovic was playing his first competitive tennis since Wimbledon last July and had to remodel his service swing to take some load off his injured right elbow. He winced and grimaced throughout the match, particularly when stretching for backhands, and needed a medical timeout in the second set for massage on his elbow.
The 12-time major champion said he would need to reassess the injury but didn’t want his pain to detract from Chung’s win.
“Amazing. Amazing performance,” said Djokovic, who was seeded 14th after his ranking slid in 2017 while he was off the tour.
Chung was coming off a victory over fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev and is on a roll.
Djokovic wasn’t even sure until the last minute that he would be able to play at Melbourne Park but was fit enough to beat Donald Young, Gael Monfils and No. 21 Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Chung was a different proposition
Sandgren, 26, missed a match point in the fourth set but held on to beat Thiem.
“I don’t know if this is a dream or not — all you guys are here, so maybe it’s not,” Sandgren said in an on-court TV interview after his win. “I’m not in my underwear, so maybe it’s not a dream.”
Sandgren converted half of his eight break-point chances and fended off 10 of the 12 he faced against Thiem. He hit 63 winners against 38 unforced errors.
Defending champion Roger Federer had no real difficulties in reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals for the 14th time. He beat Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2 and next will renew a lengthy rivalry against Tomas Berdych, who had a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Fabio Fognini.
Kerber has to rally
Angelique Kerber, the only Grand Slam singles champion remaining in the women’s draw, got a wakeup call in his match against No. 88 Su-Wei Hsieh.
For a while it appeared former the Australian and U.S. Open champion’s tournament could unravel against Hsieh, a former top-ranked doubles player with a double-handed grip on both sides. Kerber recovered for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory that earned her a quarterfinal spot against U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys, who beat No. 8 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2.
Top-seeded Simona Halep, who had to rally from triple match point down to advance through the third round, beat Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-2. Halep will play sixth seed Karolina Pliskova, who rounded out Day 8 with a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 20 Barbora Strycova.
In a women’s quarterfinals match early Tuesday, Elise Mertens upset fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 and will take a 10-match winning streak into the semifinals.