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Sebastian Korda still in contention of continuing a family tradition of winning at least one title in Australia.
In a convincing win and major upset, Sebastian Korda dominated the fourth-round match against last year's finalist, Daniil Medvedev 7-6(7) 6-3 7-6(4), advancing to the round of 16.
The 22-year-old got the biggest win of his career against the No. 7 seed, where his father Petr won the Australian Open 25 years ago.
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He unleashed a lethal mix of power, acute angles, changes of pace, and slick court craft to dash the Russian’s hopes of a hat-trick of Melbourne Park final appearances.
Korda won the first set 7-6(7) in 85 minutes but recovered well to convincingly take the second set 6-3. Medvedev fought back to be in the game in the third set at 4-3 40-15 and force a third-set tiebreak, but Korda played exceptionally well to see off the win.
“It was an unbelievable match. I knew what I had to do, and I stuck with it, even when I was going up and down with my emotions, but I’m thrilled right now – I played amazing,” the 2018 Australian Open junior champion said.
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“I love playing in Australia, my family loves playing in Australia, and we’ve had a lot of awesome moments here,” he said.
The youngster is the first United States men’s player into the last 16 at this year's tournament – a feat he already achieved at the French Open and Wimbledon – but there will be at least two countrymen joining him due to all-American match-ups.
In his Press conference after the match, Medvedev said "I played a little bit below the level I needed to win. He was better than me. I won a lot of matches like this in the past, but now I'm struggling to do it."
With Medvedev's loss, after spending 16 weeks as world No. 1 in 2022, he will slip down the rankings out of the top 10.
Khachanov survives a four-set epic match with Tiafoe to reach fourth round
Karen Khachanov came back from 1-6 down in the fourth set tiebreak to beat Frances Tiafoe in four sets 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(9) and reach the last 16.
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The fourth-set tie-breaker was a thriller, with Tiafoe holding a 6-1 advantage, only for the Russian to show remarkable resilience in reeling in the deficit in a high-class display.
Khachanov, who conceded he was preparing for a fifth set when trailing 1-6 in the tiebreaker, said he did not mind the support the crowd provided for Tiafoe.
“The other day, I beat a player from Australia. The crowd were not really pleased. I don’t know. But hopefully I can just keep on winning,” he said.
“To be honest with you, I like the atmosphere here … and every other crowd. But I just ask to show some respect for the crowd. To cheer after a double fault… I don’t know.
“I know you are for the other guy. I am used to playing with atmosphere and energy. At the end of the day, even if it is atmosphere and energy against me, I still like it.”
The Russian will play his last-16 match against Yoshihito Nishioka, who broke new ground in Melbourne after reaching the third round in the past four editions of the tournament.
The 26-year-old has won two out of three outings against the Japanese left-hander. Khachanov has reached at least the quarter-finals of the other three Grand Slams he has played.
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