Final thoughts
So, Hyeon Chung’s star continues to rise. He’s into a grand slam semi-final, where he’ll play Roger Federer or Tomáš Berdych. Not bad for a 21-year-old ranked 58 in the world. This match wasn’t quite the sensational performance of the other night against Novak Djokovic, and at times it appeared difficult for him to match the energy levels of that encounter, but he managed to lift himself sufficiently to see off the challenge of Sandgren. The American, for his part, departs having also made a name for himself at Melbourne Park. Expect to hear more about him, in one context or another, in the near future.
Thanks for joining me today. We’ll be back in a few hours with coverage of the match that will determine who plays Chung in the semis. Until then.
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“At 40-0 up I was thinking about what to say in ceremony,” says Chung, on that incredible last game, when his concentration appeared to waver. He goes on to introduce his box, including his mum and dad, who get a big round of applause from the crowd.
On his next opponent, and whether he would prefer Federer or Berdych: “I don’t know,” he says after a long pause. “It’s 50-50, I don’t care.” Yeah, right. He’s a diplomat as well as being a fantastic young tennis player.
Game, set and match: Hyeon Chung wins 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3!
Third set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6 Chung* (*denotes server): Ridiculous! What a game to end on! Chung eventually does it, but not before Sandgren thrillingly saves five match points! What a finish to this match! Chung races out to a 40-0 lead only for each one to be saved. Then, unbelievably, Chung goes long and Sandgren has a break point! He can’t take it but soon after a superb forehand gives him another chance. A quite ridiculous rally follows – 31 shots long – with each player slicing backhands to each other for what seems like an eternity! Sandgren cracks first and finds the net to bring it back to deuce. On the next match point, there’s more ridiculousness as Sandgren fends off two point-blank Chung shots at the net to save it! But he finally caves on match point No6!
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Third set: Sandgren* 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 3-5 Chung (*denotes server): Sandgren throws caution to the wind at 30-30 with an attempted drop shot! It fails and Chung has a first match point! He can only return a big Sandgren serve into the net though and the American hangs in there – for now! Chung to serve for the match...
Third set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 2-5 Chung* (*denotes server): Chung inches closer to the semis! It’s a love service game and he’s just one game away from a clash with Federer or Berdych!
Third set: Sandgren* 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 2-4 Chung (*denotes server): Sandgren is wide on the first point and long on the second. But he pulls it back to 40-30 thanks to a serve down the T and two wild Chung returns. Chung then returns into the net, and Sandgren holds. Credit to him for that – it would have been easy to unravel at that point. He’s still in this though, for the time being.
Third set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 1-4 Chung* (*denotes server): A love hold in double-quick time sees Chung edge towards victory! The 21-year-old is just two games away from a historic semi-final berth!
Third set: Sandgren* 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 1-3 Chung (*denotes server): Oh no, it looks like falling apart for Sandgren here. He’s well off target at 15-30 down and Chung has two chances to break. But a huge serve saves the first, and then a nicely-worked point ends with the American smashing at the net. Still, he’s forced to save two further break points – his serve again bailing him out of trouble – but when Chung is gifted a fifth chance, thanks to a terribly-timed double fault, and Sandgren can only find the net, the Korean does finally get the break he wanted!
Third set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 1-2 Chung* (*denotes server): Sandgren’s not giving up yet, and there’s still plenty of fight left in him. He forces Chung to save two break points before finally holding, the South Korean acing on the final point. Still, Sandgren’s showing real grit here, and at least Chung knows if he’s going to win this match, it’s not going to be handed on a plate to him.
Third set: Sandgren* 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 1-1 Chung (*denotes server): The answer is pretty well. In particular, at 30-15, Sandgren and Chung trade volleys at the net, doubles-style, before the American sends Chung so wide he can’t get back into a winning position. Great stuff! He aces to wrap things up.
Third set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 0-1 Chung* (*denotes server): Chung carries on where he left off, and takes the opening game of the third set for the loss of just one point. All eyes now on Sandgren, and how he will respond with the ball in his hand.
Hyeon Chung wins the second set 7-6 (7-5)!
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-7 (5-7) Chung: The pressure is on, and it begins to show on Sandgren, who irritably tells his box to be quiet before the 11th point of this tie-break, which he loses after shanking the ball out. That gives Chung set point and he makes no mistake. The Korean’s level definitely dropped that set, yet he still takes it. And that could well prove telling in the final reckoning. Has Sandgren got what it takes to stage a recovery from two sets down now? It’s a big ask.
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-6 Chung (5-5 tie break): Koreans in the stands grimace as Chung hands a mini-break to Sandgren but he counters on the next point. Sandgren then claims the next two points, the second one after coming to the net, but he finds the net soon after as the score is levelled again.
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-6 Chung (2-3 tie break): Chung gets an early mini-break as Sandgren finds the net but the American breaks back on the next point with a monster forehand return. Chung then edges ahead with a beautifully-worked point, during he which he has Sandgren running all over the court!
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 6-6 Chung* (* denotes server): We’re heading to a tie-break! Chung finds some energy that has been lacking for much of this set – and some shots – to win his service game. The next few points are going to be crucial.
Second set: Sandgren* 4-6, 6-5 Chung (* denotes server): Oof! Sandgren pulls out a fantastic cross-court forehand winner, on the run, to take a 40-0 lead! That’s probably the shot of the match so far and indicative of how the American has turned things around since the beginning of this set.
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 5-5 Chung* (* denotes server): What is it with double faults at the beginning of games at the moment? Heres another one, from Chung again, and he’s forced to come from behind to hold serve. But hold he does, thanks in part to a ferocious backhand to win a lengthy rally at 15-15.
Second set: Sandgren* 4-6, 5-4 Chung (* denotes server): A double fault doesn’t help Sandgren on the opening point but a terrific backhand down the line that lands on the line gets him back on track. Both players trade points with some excellent groundstrokes but an unforced error from Sandgren then lets him down, and gifts Chung a break point chance. Sandgren holds his nerve in a 15-shot rally to save it but he faces another one a point later and this time Chung does indeed break back to stay alive this set. That’s a massive opportunity wasted for Sandgren, one he may well come to rue.
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 5-3 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung kicks off this game with a double fault before Sandgren lands a superb forehand return of serve on the next point. Something’s missing for Chung here but he digs deep to level at 30-30. But another unforced error – a regulation forehand into the net – puts him in further trouble. And his radar is off on the next point and Sandgren breaks! The American will now serve for the second set.
Second set: Sandgren* 4-6, 4-3 Chung (* denotes server): Lovely stuff from Sandgren to open this game. A forehand winner and the softest of touches at the net puts him 30-0 up. And all of a sudden, Sandgren looks comfortable. He challenges a call on game point, successfully, and continues his ascendency this set.
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 3-3 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung wobbles slightly this game, but he’s got enough up his sleeve, including a terrific forehand winner down the line on game point, to steady the ship. All square midway through the second set!
Second set: Sandgren* 4-6, 3-2 Chung (* denotes server): Stats show that Sandgren is doing far much more running about the court than Chung so far, but the American appears invigorated following that break of serve. And he turns a deficit into a lead in the space of two games after confirming the break this game, which includes a big ace that draws cheers from the stands!
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 2-2 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung allows his level to drop slightly this game – he double faults for the first time today and then puts a regulation volley into the net to allow Sandgren back to deuce. A booming forehand from the American then brings up break point... and he gets it as Chung hits one out! We’re back on serve.
Second set: Sandgren* 4-6, 1-2 Chung (* denotes server): That’s an excellent response from the American though. An ace gets him to 40-0 and even a slight wobble in the form of a double fault doesn’t derail him this time, and another ace seals the game. He needed that.
Second set: Sandgren 4-6, 0-2 Chung* (* denotes server): Sandgren is in trouble here, both physically and as a result, mentally. He looks tired and a 37-shot rally to kick off this game surely won’t help in that department. Chung serves out and he’s two games to the good already in the second set.
Second set: Sandgren* 4-6, 0-1 Chung (* denotes server): I blinked and I missed (most of) it. But Chung gets the second set off to the best possible start, with a break! The momentum is with the Korean and Sandgren is quickly in danger of letting this one run away from him.
Hyeon Chung wins the first set 6-4!
First set: Sandgren 4-6 Chung* (* denotes server): No problems whatsoever for Chung as he’s, um, well-served by his serve once again to wrap up the opening set in just 37 minutes. He’s on course for a second career win over Sandgren, the pair having met earlier this month in the round of 32 in Auckland, where the Korean won in three, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
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First set: Sandgren* 4-5 Chung (* denotes server): Chung again shows his quality as he moves Sandgren around the court before expertly moving to the net and finishing off the first point. The American, though, is equally good a few points later and he too volley at the net to win a very similar rally. Sandgren then aces at deuce and when Chung fires out on a crosscourt backhand, he holds.
First set: Sandgren 3-5 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung fires down his second ace of the match to level at 15-15 and he looks comfortable as he goes on to move to within a game of the first set. Really, no problems at all so far for the Korean.
First set: Sandgren* 3-4 Chung (* denotes server): A couple of loose forehands from Chung help Sandgren on his way this game in pretty much the first indication that the Korean is fallible so far this match.
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First set: Sandgren 2-4 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung’s service game is working nicely thank you very much so far. He holds to love, without any fuss, and that two-game advantage opens up again.
First set: Sandgren* 2-3 Chung (* denotes server): Chung continues to take the match to Sandgren and the Korean brings up another break point chance. Sandgren saves it with an ace, before another booming serve and a Chung volley into the net sees him hold.
Channel 7 earlier had a profile of Sandgren, the big take-home from which was that when he orders a coffee he tells the barista his name is David, to avoid the inevitable confusion stemming from “Tennys with a y”.
First set: Sandgren 1-3 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung now gets himself into a bit of trouble on his own serve and falls to two break points. A marathon rally ensues, something of a test of will, which Chung wins as Sandgren finds the net from the baseline. And then Chung extricates himself from bother with a serve that Sandgren can only return into the net. He goes on to hold and confirm that break.
First set: Sandgren* 1-2 Chung (* denotes server): First blood to Chung as the Korean breaks on the second of three break points! Sandgren, on the stretch, can only find the net on an attempted return and Chung noses ahead early in this first set.
Meanwhile, it’s been confirmed that the earlier alarm was down to a computer malfunction in the control room. What timing, though! It really couldn’t have been worse, just as Sandgren was about to serve the first point of the match.
First set: Sandgren 1-1 Chung* (* denotes server): Chung’s turn now to serve and he, like Sandgren, has little problem in holding. On TV commentary, Jim Courier is chatting about the furore surrounding Sandgren’s Twitter feed and implied political beliefs. Freedom of speech is a constitutional right in the US, says the former player, but as he’s finding out there can be consequences to that.
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First set: Sandgren* 1-0 Chung (* denotes server): Finally, we get under way. Sandgren starts with the ball in his hand and doesn’t seem affected one jot by that delay. He serves out to love to kick things off.
A quick internet search tells me it’s 24C in Melbourne, but it’s surely hotter than that down on the Rod Laver Arena surface.
There doesn’t seem to be any major concern from security. And yes, it’s a false alarm. The umpire confirms it. The crowd breaks out into spontaneous applause! Let’s do this!
OK, the players are warmed up, and ready to go! But wait! An alarm has gone off and a message over the tannoy is telling everyone to “evacuate”! The umpire, James Keothavong, gets on his phone in a bid to get clarity, and then tells the crowd to hang in there. It may be a false alarm.
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The players are out on court, the toss has been made (after the obligatory photo opportunities) and we’re nearly ready to go.
Preamble
Could this be the year of the underdog? This match-up – and with Kyle Edmund already through – means we’re guaranteed two unseeded players in this year’s Australian Open semi-finals and with each on opposite sides of the draw, the possibility of seedless final remains.
This pair, for sure, have captured the imagination on their respective, equally thrilling runs to the last eight. Tennys Sandgren, the man with the most appropriately job-related name on the planet, has seemingly come from nowhere; the American journeyman had previously never won a grand slam match but here at Melbourne Park he has seen off the likes of 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka and fifth seed Dominic Thiem. Seemingly, nothing can faze him this year, although he hasn’t played since getting grilled about his Twitter usage and political beliefs.
Hyeon Chung has faced no such storm. The likeable South Korean instead has received nothing but plaudits, not only for his sensational, Novak Djokovic-like tennis, but also for his humble, unassuming demeanour when not doing a passable impression of comic book superhero Elastic Man on the courts. He too has seen off his fair share of big names, including his idol Djokovic the other night, and will be in buoyant mood heading into this one.
We’re scheduled for a 1pm local (2am GMT) start and it looks like we’re on time, with Angie Kerber not having messed about in her straight-set demolition job on Madison Keys not so long ago.
Feel free to get in touch via the channels above, there’s plenty of talking points in this match-up. The players should be out shortly, so stick with us.
Mike will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a bit of background reading on both players:
