MELBOURNE, Australia – Tennys Sandgren's run through the Kia Australian Open isn't done yet.
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Sandgren, who won the Lewis and Clark Community College Pro Tennis Classic and Edwardsville Futures in back-to-back weeks in the summer of 2016, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam event with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 win over ATP-ranked No. 5 Austrian Dominic Theim early Monday morning local time (Monday night Melbourne time) in the Round of 16 at Melbourne's Hisense Arena, part of the Melbourne Park complex hosting the tournament. This is Sandgren's first appearance at the Australian Open.
The win sets up a quarterfinal match against South Korean Heyon Chung, ranked No. 58 in the ATP world rankings; Sandgren is the only American still left in the men's singles draw. The winner of that match would face the winner of a quarterfinal match between world No. 2 Roger Federer of Switzerland and world No. 20 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.
“I don't know, man. I'm starting to disbelieve that a little bit,” Sandgren said in an on-court interview with Australia's Seven Network following the match. “I don't know if this is a dream or not.
“He (Theim) played some really, really great tennis, especially in that fourth set (tie)breaker. I knew I had to take my chances; I knew that, from behind the court, he could probably outlast me and outgrind me – he's a heck of a player. I knew I had to come out and play aggressive and take my chances and serve well; thankfully, it worked out in the end.”
The time and date for Sandgren's match against Chung has yet to be set, but the tournament is being shown live on ESPN2 during the evening and overnight hours, with a three-hour highlights show at 1 p.m. each day. There is a 17-hour time difference between Edwardsville and Melbourne, owing to Melbourne being on Australian Summer (daylight) time for those hoping to see his upcoming match live on ESPN2.
Matches are also being live-streamed on ESPN3, available for free to Spectrum subscribers on the ESPN smartphone app and on www.watchespn.com. More information and video highlights are available at the Australian Open website, www.ausopen.com.
