Djokovic upset in Australian Open
South Korean Hyeon Chung pulls surprise
MELBOURNE – Sometimes the expected turns into the unexpected as it did when two intruders muscled their way into the Australian Open men’s quarterfinals Monday.
The natural order of tennis suggested that when action concluded at Melbourne Park on Monday it would be sixtime champion Novak Djokovic taking on fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem on Wednesday for a coveted semifinal slot.
That was before No. 56-ranked Hyeon Chung of South Korea and No. 97 Tennys Sandgren of the USA revealed they had their own plans to reach their first Grand Slam tournament quarterfinals.
Chung never showed fear in the 3hour, 21-minute match as he ended Djokovic’s campaign in a stunning 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) fourth-round decision.
“Dreams came true tonight,” said Chung, who also told the crowd that Djokovic is his hero and he tries to play like the man he had just conquered.
The only other time the two encountered each other on a tennis court was in the 2016 Australian Open first round, which Djokovic won 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
“Amazing performance,” said Djokovic, complimenting Chung. “He was a better player on the court tonight. He deserved to win, no question about it. Whenever he was in trouble, he came up with some unbelievable shots.”
The 14th-seeded Djokovic rarely looked comfortable and was bothered at times by his right elbow, an injury that kept him off the court for the last six months of 2017. He’s been wearing a sleeve on his arm, and he received treatment on the elbow after the first set.
“It’s not great, unfortunately,” Djokovic said about the elbow. “By the end of the first set it started to bother me. It started hurting more. I had to deal with it till the end of the match.
“I’m very grateful I had the chance to play. I didn’t know if I’m going to play or not. It was a good tournament. It’s disappointing to go out in the fourth round. The circumstances are such. I have to accept it. That’s the reality. It’s frustrating, of course, when you have that much time and you don’t heal properly. I’m just try- ing my best, obviously, because I love this sport.”
The 21-year-old Chung becomes the first Korean — man or woman — to attain a quarterfinal berth in a Grand Slam tournament. Before the Australian Open, his best career Grand Slam showing was a third-round appearance in the 2017 French Open.
A little more than an hour before Djokovic’s ouster, 26-year-old Sandgren, who has created havoc with the draw from the first round, sent Thiem packing 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 for his second victory over a top-10 player.
Before this victory, the Tennessee native had never won a Grand Slam maindraw match. He played only in two Grand Slams before, as a wild card in the 2017 French Open and as a direct entry in the
2017 U.S. Open.
Sandgren had attempted to qualify for Grand Slams on 13 occasions — five times in Australia — without success.
The last player to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals in their first appearance in the tournament was Frenchman Nicolas Escude in 1998.
During the first week here, Sandgren got his first Grand Slam match win over Jeremy Chardy, defeated his first top-10 player when he upset ninth-seeded Stan Wawrinka and bypassed Maximilian Marterer in the third round.
“At the end of the match, doing the postmatch interview, I was thinking this would be one of those moments where you wake up,” Sandgren said. “Obviously the first three matches were more than I expected. This one was about as hard fought as I’ve ever had a match before. My biggest match, as well, pretty neat.
“I definitely had a real pinch-me moment,” he added, smiling. “Wow, this is hopefully real, you know. If I wake up now, I’m going to be real upset.”
Interestingly, Sandgren selected a 6-3,
5-7, 6-3 loss to Chung two weeks ago in the Auckland tournament as what helped his success here.
“I think a big deal was playing Chung in Auckland,” he said. “I feel like we had a tight contest. I feel like I had to raise my game to even compete with him on the court. I think that helped me a lot going into this week, seeing I could play a good level.”