Shock win for cool Chardy

THE CHARDY was Australian Open.

And little- known Jeremy Chardy’s upset win over sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro on Saturday means there’ll be no shortage of French bubbly at the business end of the tournament.

World No 36 Chardy stunned the in-form Argentine 6-3 6-3 6-7 (7-3) 3- 6 6- 3 in an epic on Hisense Arena, causing the biggest shock of the tournament so far.

The 25- year- old produced exceptional tennis in the opening two sets, rode del Potro’s fightback in the third and fourth, and eventually held his nerve to give France a guaranteed four players in the last 16 at Melbourne Park.

Chardy has climbed from outside the top 100 to inside the top 40 over the past 12 months.

And he believed keeping calm mid-match as del Potro came at him was the key to a victory and a quality of tennis in the three hour, 45 minute match which seemed to surprise even Chardy.

‘‘I don’t know what to say – I am so happy. I played my best tennis today,’’ he said.

‘‘From the first

flowing

point to

at

the

the last point, I played exactly the same. I stayed very calm and very focused, and that’s why I won today.’’ In a tense fifth set, del Potro was the first to blink.

His error under pressure gave Chardy an important break of serve to go 5-3 up, and the Frenchman nervelessly served out the match.

French players are proving the story of the men’s draw so far, with Chardy, Richard Gasquet and JoWilfried Tsonga all winning through to the fourth round within a few minutes of each other on Saturday.

Seventh seed Tsonga was able to comfortably see off Slovenian Blaz Kavcic 6-2 6-1 6-4.

He will meet countryman Gasquet in the fourth round, after the ninth seed overcame an early scare from Croatian Ivan Dodig.

Dodig won the opening set before the Frenchman blasted back to eventually win 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 in two hours, 25 minutes.

Playing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, Dodig held a 3-1 advantage and break point in the second set before Gasquet launched his fightback.

After winning a third set tiebreak Gasquet then ran riot in the fourth set to secure a place in the next round.

Italian 21st seed Andrea Seppi beat Croatia’s 12th seed Marin Cilic 6-7 (7-2) 6-3 2-6 6-4 6-2 to also advance to the fourth round.

Photos: Reuters Camera shy: Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, covers his tracks after running through the photographers’ area in his singles match against Jeremy Chardy.