The World No. 30 Hyeon Chung is playing his first tournament back since his Australian Open dream run at Delray Beach. Lucky loser Cameron Norrie was his opening round opponent. The Brit came into the tournament with good form carrying over from his Davis Cup tie against Spain. In his debut, Norrie defeated Roberto Bautista Agut in a five-set drama. He gave Chung some trouble, but the 21-year-old managed to prevail, winning 3-6 6-3 6-1.
For Skugor, this was his first 2nd Round appearance at an ATP-level tournament since Geneva last year. Skugor is currently ranked No. 303 in singles and No. 40 in doubles. Many in his situation would become doubles specialists, but Skugor took the “Freddy Nielsen route”.
He entered qualifying as a wild card, beat Henri Laaksonen and Peter Polansky in straight sets, both ranked more than 150 spots higher than him. In the first round of the main draw, Skugor defeated Bublik once again in straight sets.
Skugor started the game with a statement break, letting Chung know that this match won’t be an easy affair. Chung started to find his game throughout the first set. After a long game at 2-2, Chung won and gained confidence on his serve. The Korean ended the set with a break off Skugor’s serve and things were looking good.
Things were looking even better as Chung went two breaks up in the second set. At 6-4 4-0, the match looked all but over. However, Skugor fought back. The Croat got both breaks back and got to 3-4 on his serve. He got broken to love, and it was now Chung serving for the match. The 21-year-old was unsuccessful but had 3 match points on Skugor’s serve. The set went into a tiebreak, where it was a rollercoaster once again. Skugor was 4-2 up at the changeover and didn’t win a point after. Hyeon Chung won 6-4 7-6(4), but there are definitely question marks remaining about his form here. Chung will face Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals. The young American pulled off the upset over 2nd seed Juan Martin del Potro.
Chung commented how he felt in this tough roller coaster of a match: “I’m just trying to enjoy my time on the court like I did in Milan last year. I’m trying to keep playing well and keep fighting all the time.”
“Everyday I’m trying to watch the Olympic ice skating, I love supporting Team Korea,” said Chung when asked about the Winter Olympics taking place in his native South Korea.
