Australian Open: A look ahead to Wednesday and Tuesday recap
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A glance at the Australian Open:
LOOKAHEAD TO WEDNESDAY
Nobody saw this coming: Two weeks ago, South Korean Hyeon Chung played Tennys Sandgren in a first-round match at Auckland, New Zealand, with Chung a three-set winner. Now they're meeting the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park after Chung upset six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round and Sandgren beat 2014 Australian winner Stan Wawrinka and fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem en route to the final eight. "I think a big deal was playing Chung in Auckland ... I feel like we had a tight contest. I feel like I had to raise my game to even compete with him on the court," Sandgren said. "I think that helped me a lot going into this week."
The other quarterfinal is a more expected one: Defending champion Roger Federer against Tomas Berdych, and the 19-time Grand Slam champion has a 19-6 edge over the Czech player, including all four times they have played at Melbourne Park. "We have had some good ones over the years going back all the way to the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004," said Federer. Perhaps he will use that as motivation on Wednesday - Berdych beat him in three close sets in the second round at Athens.
The winners on that half of the draw now know they won't have to face top-ranked Rafael Nadal for the title. Nadal retired with a right leg injury in the fifth set of his quarterfinal with Marin Cilic on Tuesday.
The women's quarterfinals in the top half of the draw Tuesday see top-seeded Simona Halep against Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber vs. U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys. Kerber is on a 13-match winning streak while 17th-seeded Keys beat No. 8 Caroline Garcia in the fourth round. Keys has only won one of seven matches against Kerber, and five of the six losses were in straights set. "I think she has an ability to cover the court and anticipate like really no one else does," Keys said of Kerber. "So for me, it's having to play aggressive."
All quarterfinals are on Rod Laver Arena, with Kerber-Keys at 0000 GMT (7 p.m. ET); Sandgren-Chung not before 0200 GMT (9 p.m. ET), Halep-Pliskova not before 0400 GMT (11 p.m. ET) and Federer-Berdych starting at 0830 GMT (3:30 a.m ET).
- By AP Sports Writer Dennis Passa
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WEDNESDAY FORECAST
Mostly sunny, high of 26 Celsius (79 Fahrenheit)
TUESDAY'S WEATHER
Mostly sunny, high of 24 C (75 F)
TUESDAY'S RESULTS
Men's Quarterfinals: No. 6 Marin Cilic beat No. 1 Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 2-0, retired; Kyle Edmund beat No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Women's Quarterfinals: No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-2; Elise Mertens beat No. 4 Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0.
STAT OF THE DAY
10 - number of consecutive match wins by semifinalist Mertens.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I don't know if we keep playing in this very, very hard surfaces what's going to happen in the future with our lives" - Nadal on all the recent injuries on the men's tour.
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