The second day of Australian Open quarterfinal action will take place on Wednesday, when Roger Federer is back on the court against Tomas Berdych. A far more surprising showdown–one of the most unexpected in slam QF history–features Hyeon Chung and Tennys Sandgren.
Tomas Berdych vs. (2) Roger Federer
Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych will be squaring off for the 26th time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday night. Federer is dominating the head-to-head series 19-6, but there has to be at least some optimism for Berdych. After all, six wins in 25 attempts is a smashing success compared to the standards most players set for themselves against Federer. Moreover, the 32-year-old Czech is playing far better tennis right now–albeit with a very small sample size–than he was throughout a prolonged slump in 2016 and 2017 that kept him out of consecutive Nitto ATP Finals. During those two seasons he went 0-4 against Federer and 1-11 total sets–including 0-2 (0-6 in sets) at the Australian Open. Berdych earned himself another shot at the Swiss thanks to mostly routine victories earlier in the tournament over Alex de Minaur, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Fabio Fognini.
Federer was the favorite to defend his 2017 title before the fortnight even started and his status as such has only skyrocketed due to recent losses taken by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, among other top 15 players. The world No. 2 has not come close to suffering a similar fate, as he punched his ticket to the last eight by cruising past Aljaz Bedene, Jan-Lennard Struff, Richard Gasquet, and Marton Fucsovics all in straight sets. Federer is obviously in fine form and he has to be supremely confident against Berdych with an 8-0 record at the underdog’s expense dating back to 2014.
Pick: Federer in 3
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Tennys Sandgren vs. Hyeon Chung
It will be one of the most surprising Grand Slam quarterfinal matchups in ATP history when Chung and Sandgren collide on Wednesday afternoon. Byron Black vs. Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000 is on a similar scale, but not much else can rival this one. Most of that, of course, has to do with Sandgren. The 26-year-old American had been a perennial Futures and Challenger level player until now, with only two main-tour match wins in his entire career. Ranked 97th in the world, Sandgren has emerged from nowhere to make a miracle run in Melbourne at the expense of Jeremy Chardy, Stan Wawrinka, Maximilian Marterer, and Dominic Thiem.
Chung’s quarterfinal appearance is a surprise more because he had no past history of success at Grand Slams and a difficult draw. For him, natural talent has never been a question mark. The 21-year-old South Korean captured the inaugural NextGen ATP Finals title last fall in Milan and he beat two fellow NextGen stars earlier in this tournament (Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev). Chung also advanced by taking out Mischa Zverev (via retirement) and six-time Aussie Open champion Novak Djokovic. Although Djokovic is a shadow of his former self at the moment, nothing can be taken away from what was an awesome performance by Chung throughout a 7-6(4), 7-5, 7-6(3) triumph on Monday night. The world No. 58 is in outstanding form, has already played in Rod Laver Arena twice (Sandgren never has), and he just beat Sandgren three weeks ago in Auckland.
Pick: Chung in 4
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