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MELBOURNE: Serving for a spot in the Australian Open semifinals and with the score at 40-love, Chung Hyeon started thinking how he might celebrate being the first Korean to reach the last four of a Grand Slam.
Not so fast. He hadn’t let up when upsetting No. 4 Alexander Zverev or six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic en route to the quarterfinals, but he let his guard down for a few points against No. 97-ranked Tennys Sandgren.
He missed four match points in the last game and had to fend off two break points, including one in a 31-shot rally dominated by slice backhands, before finally beating Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
“In last game, I think at 40-love ... if I win one more point, I make history in Korea. I have to think about the ceremony, something,” he said, explaining how he got slightly ahead of himself. “After deuce, break point. I was like, no, nothing to do with ceremony. But just keep playing — keep focused.”
Then he fully embraced the moment, joking with Jim Courier in an on-court TV interview, introducing the audience to his parents and his coach, and taking the microphone to speak in Korean to millions of new tennis fans back home.
“I think all the people is watching Australian Open now because we make history in Korea,” he said.
The No. 58-ranked Chung is the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open semifinals since Marat Safin in 2004. At 21, he’s also the youngest to reach the last four at a major since Marin Cilic did it here in 2010.
With Chung already through, and Kyle Edmund playing No. 6 Marin Cilic in the other half of the draw, it’s the first time since 1999 that multiple unseeded players have reached the Australian Open semifinals.
Not that Chung’s run has been routine. After taking out Zverev and Djokovic, Chung now faces Roger Federer, the greatest player of all-time for a spot in the final.
Federer has been keeping an eye on Chung's progress.
"To beat Novak on this court is particularly difficult. ... He's incredibly impressive in his movement, reminds me obviously a lot of Novak," Federer said. "He's clearly got nothing to lose. I will tell myself the same and we'll see what happens."
Chung, who won the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals title in November, was too consistent for Sandgren, a 26-year-old American who had never won a match at a Grand Slam tournament or beaten a top-10 player until last week.