Chung crushes Zverev to reach Aussie Open 4th round

Korean to face Djokovic Monday

By Baek Byung-yeul

Korean tennis player Chung Hyeon made history in Korean tennis after the 21-year-old stunned world No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men’s singles third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Saturday.

At the Rod Laver Arena, the world No. 58 Korean achieved a 5-7, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over the German to become the first Korean to reach the round of 16 at the tournament.

With the win, Chung became the third Korean to reach the second week of a Grand Slam tennis tournament, following Lee Hyung-taik’s 2000 and 2007 runs at the U.S. Open men’s singles and Lee Duk-hee’s 1981 run at the U.S. Open in 1981 in the women’s singles.

Chung will face former No. 1 Novak Djokovic today. The six-time Australian Open winner currently sits at world No. 14. He advanced to the fourth round after defeating Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 the same day. Chung and Djokovic met at the first round of the Australian Open two years ago, and the Serbian legend took an easy win against him 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Against the 197-centimeter tall German player, who is 10 centimeters taller than him, Chung gave up the opening set 5-7, but evened the set score with a tiebreaker win.

The bespectacled Korean lost the third set 2-6 but leveled the set scores at 2-2 after winning the fourth set 6-3.

The fifth match was one-sided as Zverev handed over a break with a double fault and Chung concluded the set 6-0. When Zverev went down 3-0, he received a racket abuse warning from the chair umpire for slamming his racket into the court. It was Chung’s second win against the Zverev family as Chung defeated Alexander’s older brother Mischa in the first round.

“I’m just so happy to make the fourth round in (a Grand) Slam with so many good players,” Chung told ATP after the game. “I don’t want to stop here. (I want to) keep going.”

Chung added he feels happy to play Djokovic in the round of 16. “I have one more chance to play with a great player in the world,” Chung said. “I’m just happy to share the court with Novak.”

Chung has emerged as a noteworthy player after claiming the Next Generation ATP Finals in Milan last November.

At the season-ending event for players 21 or younger, Chung won over Andrey Rublev of Russia to get his first and only ATP title.

The Korean tennis sensation is regarded as a successor to Lee Hyung-taik, who held the country’s highest ATP rank of 36 in 2007.