Lessons learnt within the warmth of battle with tennis greats Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have helped energy rising star Sebastian Korda’s march to the Australian Open final eight.
The 22-year-old American son of 1998 Open champion Petr Korda has reached the quarter-finals of a grand slam for the primary time, taking over 18th seed Karen Khachanov on Tuesday.
Korda is in the most effective type of his profession, knocking off former world No.1 Daniil Medvedev and tenth seed Hubert Hurkacz in a powerful run at Melbourne Park.
It comes after he threatened a boilover however squandered a match level in opposition to Djokovic within the Adelaide International last this month.
“I’m really good at just kind of moving forward, learning from my mistakes, what I’ve done in the past, then using them in matches like this,” Korda mentioned after advancing from a fourth-round five-set battle with Hurkacz, determined in a tense match tiebreaker.
“I’ve had a tough match with Rafa, serving for it a couple times.
“Match level with Djokovic, I believe that actually helped me, particularly within the final match with Medvedev, closing out that tiebreaker, then (in opposition to Hurkacz) as properly.
“All those little moments that I’ve gone through, kind of learning from them, staying patient, staying positive, going through the process I think have really helped me going forward.”
Korda admitted he had been too defensive in his strategy in opposition to Djokovic with the Adelaide title on the road.
“I think I used that really well recently. Any bigger point that I have, I’ll try to go a little more, try to be a little more aggressive,” Korda mentioned.
Korda took nearly three and a half hours to remove Hurkacz on Sunday, whereas Khachanov spent rather less than two hours on courtroom in a three-set defeat of Yoshihito Nishioka.
But the 26-year-old Russian would not imagine the shorter fourth-round match will essentially give him a bonus within the final eight.
“Not really because, I mean, their match is five-setter, like some sets they were kind of quick,” Khachanov mentioned.
“They didn’t play like Andy (Murray) played six hours. I mean, I was surprised when it was going on.
“But, yeah, they performed longer match, extra units … (however) the opposite match I performed 3:40 with Frances (Tiafoe). You know, I believe it is type of equal.”
Khachanov or Korda will progress to a semi-final on Friday in opposition to both Greek world No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the highest-ranked man left within the draw, or unseeded Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
