|
MELBOURNE, Australia -- There was more drama at Melbourne Park on Monday evening as Tennys Sandgren and Hyeon Chung produced stunning back-to-back upsets on their way to the Australian Open men's quarterfinals. Sandgren, an American journeyman ranked No. 97, continued his fairy-tale run with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-3 win over fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem.  Sandgren entered this Australian Open with a 2-8 record at tour level and has since gone on to defeat Jeremy Chardy, Stan Wawrinka and Maximilian Marterer before Monday night's thriller.  Only a couple of hours after Sandgren's stunner, Chung announced himself as one of the game's most exciting talents with a dominant 7-6 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over the six-time champ Djokovic. In doing so, the world No. 58 became the first Korean man or woman to reach a major quarterfinal in tennis history. He'll play Sandgren next. Djokovic, still possibly affected by the right elbow injury that forced him off the tour for six months last year, was admittedly not at full form during the loss. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the last time Djokovic fell in straight sets at the Australian Open was back in 2007 in the round of 16 against Roger Federer. And the last time Djokovic lost in straight sets at any hard-court major? The 2009 US Open semis, also against Federer. So basically he's won a set in every hard-court major match this past decade ... until Monday night. Ouch.  One man who had no such drama, though, was Federer. He breezed into the quarterfinals yet again. Federer controlled his fourth-round match against Marton Fucsovics, eventually winning 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2 to book his place in the final eight of the Australian Open for the 14th time (extending his men's Open era record). Some other stats of note on Federer: And surely only Federer could mishit a forehand so badly that it almost left Rod Laver Arena, only to still end up winning the point. It was a moment of luck combined with brilliance. Lucky for you, we have it right here: It wasn't his only trick shot during the match, although he lost this point: In the quarters, Federer will meet Czech Tomas Berdych, who downed Fabio Fognini in straight sets earlier in the day. His 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory continues a remarkable run Down Under. Berdych is back in the quarterfinals for the seventh time in the past eight years. The only time he's failed to reach at least the quarters in those eight years? Last year, when he lost in the third round to, yep, you guessed it, Federer. Berdych is 6-19 against Federer and hasn't beaten the Swiss star since 2013. If Berdych can pull off the win, he could have a legit shot at winning a maiden major title. It would easily be the most attempts by any man in the Open era before winning a Grand Slam title.
For a while there, it looked as though all eight women's quarterfinalists would be chasing their first Grand Slam singles title when Angelique Kerber found herself in a hole against No. 88-ranked Hsieh Su-wei on Monday afternoon. Hsieh took the first set and pushed her all the way in the second, before falling in the third. Kerber, the 2016 Australian and US Open champion, paid tribute to Hsieh after the 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory.  "Credit to her. She played an unbelievable match,'' Kerber said. "I was feeling I was running everywhere. She was playing a lot of corners and drop shots. I was bringing a lot of balls back.'' There have been only two majors over the past 40 years in which all eight women's quarterfinalists were without major titles coming in: the 2017 French Open (won by Jelena Ostapenko) and the 1979 Australian Open (won by Barbara Jordan).
Day 1 of the Aussie Open saw an American mass exodus with Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and John Isner, among many others, all losing. After a few more losses by the US women, only Madison Keys remains. The 22-year-old breezed past eighth seed Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 on Monday, and in the process as won all eight sets. The 17th seed had missed several months on tour after wrist surgery last year and said she was reveling in playing pain-free again and without too much pressure. "I definitely realize how much l love it and how much pressure I put on myself in the past," she said after clinching the victory. "Just being really happy to be back out here and not at home in a cast.'' Keys expanded on that train of thought in her postmatch news conference: Q: You mentioned not feeling any pressure out there after your match today. What do you think accounts for that this year compared to last year? Keys: I think the biggest thing for me is I'm just really enjoying myself out on the court, and I obviously missed a lot of tennis last year and wasn't playing well at the beginning of the year. I realized once I just let things happen and trusted myself and just played my game, good things were happening and good outcomes were happening. So I just keep focusing on that and not putting as much pressure on myself. Q: Do you think people don't understand, like in any job, sometimes you're enjoying yourself and sometimes it's your job, that there is the ebb and flow? Keys: For sure. I think sometimes that's something that people don't always appreciate. It's obviously an amazing job to have, but there's tough days and there are times when it's not great. There's times when things are going really well, and it's just clicking and it feels a little bit effortless. Right now I'm definitely really enjoying my job, and I definitely hope that the way that I'm mentally preparing for these matches, and practice weeks help have more great weeks than bad weeks. Keys will play No. 16 Kerber in the quarterfinals, and if she manages to make it to the final four, she will equal her career-best effort at the Australian Open (2015).
Thousands of Aussie Open fans have been left red-faced -- and not from the scorching Melbourne sun. More than 25 percent of fans who purchased their Grand Slam tickets from reseller websites such as Viagogo have been turned away at Melbourne Park after it turned out their tickets were fraudulent. Aussie Open staff have been bombarded with cases of tickets being sold multiple times as well as children's tickets being resold as adult passes. As a result, many people have been rejected entry into the grounds. Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley urged fans not to purchase tickets from secondary sale sites. "It's disappointing to hear that so many genuine fans this week have missed out on watching their favorite players because of unauthorized tickets,'' Tiley told News Corp. "Each year we try to encourage all fans to only purchase tickets from official outlets such as Ticketek and our resale site Australian Open Fan Marketplace.''
|
