Australian Open: Hyeon Chung sends Novak Djokovic packing! Thiem bows out

Competing in only his 8th Grand Slam tournament, a 21-year-old Hyeon Chung made a name for himself, defeating the six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic by 7-6 7-5 7-6 in a grueling 3 hours and 21 minutes to become the first Korean who ever reached a Grand Slam quarter-final! Hyeon came to Melbourne with just 5 Grand Slam wins under his belt but he produced a fine level of tennis here to advance into the last 8, overpowering Novak in a tight contest that required both the physical and mental strength in order to emerge as a winner.

Playing for the first time since Wimbledon, Novak looked good in the opening 3 rounds but his serve raised some concerns that were proved to be true today, hitting just 2 aces with 9 double faults and struggling big time on his second serve.

Hyeon served at 68% but his initial shot would never be a great weapon against such a strong returner like Novak is, and it all came down to dynamic, well-balanced and tense groundstroke battles that went to Chung's side in the end.

Korean had more winners and he gave his best in the decisive moments, fending off 14 out of 19 break points he faced and stealing Novak's serve 6 times from 10 chances to close the match in straight sets and preserve some energy for his next encounter against Tennys Sandgren who shocked Dominic Thiem in an epic 5 sets.

The crowd on the Rod Laver Arena had a chance to witness some mind-blowing baseline rallies, with both players covering the court beautifully and hitting bullets from both wings in order to create some open space and place the ball out of rival's reach.

Novak tasted some of his own medicine, as Chung produced an unbelievable level of quickness, flexibility, court movement and ball striking that was seen from Serb so many times in the past and he simply refused to surrender in the pivotal moments in all 3 sets.

Hyeon mixed his game beautifully, defending with supreme accuracy and with no hesitation of moving forward or going for a winner every time he was in the right place to do so. Novak did his best to prolong the match and keep himself in contention for at least another set but he couldn't find the way to break Chung's resistance, and that elbow obviously still gives him some worries, as he required a treatment today as well.

He missed some routine shots in the important moments and that break point realization cost him dearly as well. World number 97 Tennys Sangren won just 2 ATP matches in his career (last year in Washington) and he arrived in Melbourne with just 2 Grand Slam matches played so far at the age of 26.

Tennys, a former University of Tennessee standout grabbed his maiden Grand Slam win against Jeremy Chardy and then he defeated a former Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round to set up a dream third-round clash with Maximilian Marterer.

It was a big chance for both players to advance into the last 16 and Sandgren prevailed in 4 sets to continue with his progress, meeting world number 5 Dominic Thiem in the battle for the quarter-final. After 3 hours and 54 minutes, the American prevailed by 6-2 4-6 7-6 6-7 6-3 to become the lowest-ranked player in the Australian Open quarter-final since Mikael Tillstrom in 1996. He is also the first debutant in the quarter-final of the Australian Open since Alexandr Dolgopolov in 2011.

In what has been another blow on the hard courts for him, Dominic played a decent match but it wasn't enough against well-measured groundstrokes and court coverage of his opponent, as Sandgren did almost everything right to outplay his Top 10 rival.

Almost nothing could separate them in the numbers segment but it was Tennys who won 9 points more than Thiem and he saved 10 out of 12 break points he faced, holding his nerves despite the fact that the much more experienced player stood across the net.