By Levi J Parsons
MELBOURNE, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hyeon Chung from South Korea, world number 58, stunned 13-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Monday in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Chung told Xinhua after the match that he expects the win to further the popularity of tennis in Asia, which has been on the rise in recent years.
"Today's victory, for my country, I think will mean that tennis is on the way up after this night," the 21-year-old said with a smile.
"I really wasn't sure if I could win tonight, but I am just honored to play with Novak."
"When I was younger I tried to copy his style, because he is my idol," the South Korean added.
In the first set of the round four clash, Chung got off to a dream start, breaking the Serbian's serve twice to take the lead 4-0.
But the experience and determination of Djokovic saw the six-time Australian Open winner claw his way back to take the set into a tie break.
However, Chung managed to hold his nerve to go one set up.
It was a similar story in the second set, but this time Djokovic missed his chance to force a tie break after a series of uncharacteristic double faults.
At two sets down, the unrelenting former world number one kept fighting to stay alive in the tournament but the precision and power of Chung saw him get the better of his long baseline rallies and he was able to close out the match 7-6 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (3).
When it was all over, Djokovic had nothing but praise for the youngster.
"He was like a wall," Djokovic said.
"Wherever he was in trouble, he came up with some unbelievable passing shots from the back of the court" the Serbian added.
"He definitely has the game to be a top 10 player without a doubt... he's a hard worker, he's disciplined... and I'm sure he is going to get some good results in the future."
For the first time in his short career, Chung will now move to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament where he's due to face American Tennys Sandgren on Wednesday evening.
