Sebastian Korda advanced to maiden Australian Open quarterfinals

• Sebastian Korda defeats Hurkacz in five sets to reach Australian Open quarterfinals.
• American will face Karen Khachanov for a place in the semi-finals.
• Korda is noted for his aggressive style.

Sebastian Korda defeated Hubert Hurkacz, the 10th seed, in five sets to go to the Australian Open quarterfinals.

The 29th seed reached the final eight of a Grand Slam for the first time with a back-and-forth victory over the Polish star, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10-7) in the process. Sebastian Korda will face Karen Khachanov for a place in the semi-finals.

“Awesome. I could not have achieved without your help. You guys pushed me forward; I didn’t have much energy in the fourth and fifth, but you guys really helped me out, and I don’t think it would have been possible today without you guys, so thank you!” Sebastian Korda addressed the audience.

Two-time Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev was defeated by the American in the third round after playing nearly flawlessly in straight sets. He backed up his triumph with a spirited performance inside Rod Laver Arena against the Wimbledon semi-finalist from 2021.

“I’m incredibly delighted with the way I just kind of sat down and continued working through it,” Sebastian Korda said.

Korda is the third American to reach the season’s first Grand Slam quarterfinals, following Andy Roddick in 2010. Frances Tiafoe and Tennys Sandgren have both reached to the final eight since then.

After four mostly straightforward sets, both men were competing for their first-ever place in the Australian Open quarterfinals in the thrilling final set. The tension in the player’s box was evident by Radek Stepanek, Korda’s coach and older brother to him, getting up from his seat after practically every point in the fifth set. The Czech kept his opponent inspired and occasionally made an effort to include the fans in the game.

Hurkacz converted two break points at 5-5. If he had succeeded, the Pole would have served to go to the quarterfinals. But Korda played with iron resolve to stay out of harm’s way.

Several momentum adjustments occurred throughout the key tie-break. Sebastian Korda won six straight points in one phase but then watched his lead vanish. He kept his cool, however, and capped his triumph with a perfect backhand passing stroke up the line.

“I had a little superstition with the towel. “The towel assisted me in getting through it.” The audience began to laugh as Korda talked. I just kept going to the towel because I always won the point when I did.

Korda is noted for his aggressive style, despite the fact that Hurkacz won rallies of 0-4 shots by a score of 93-84. With more than four shots, the American secured a 62-51 point advantage. Each guy broke the serve three times.

Korda will then try to win his third straight match in the ATP Head2Head series against Khachanov (Korda leads series 2-1). Khachanov won 10-8 in the fifth set in their most legendary encounter at Wimbledon in 2021, which had 19 service breaks.

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