Tennys Sandgren’s fairytale continues as Tomas Berdych prepares for Roger Federer

TENNYS from Tennessee’s tennis fairytale continued at the Australian Open after another shock win. He was clearly surprised. As were the waiting reporters. Recap the hilarious exchange here.

MUSIC and moonshine spring more readily to mind than tennis when it comes to Tennessee but the southern state can turn its attention to tennis today with one of its own causing one of the biggest men’s upset of any Australian Open in recent times.

Ranked 97 in the world and making his Open debut this fortnight, the aptly named Tennys Sandgren blew away the fifth seed, Austria’s Dominic Thiem in five, ever more stupendous sets on Hisense Arena.

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There’s been plenty of fist-pumping from Tennys Sandgren.

“Maybe it isn’t a dream,” he said on reaching the quarterfinal. “It’s pretty cool. He played some really great tennis especially in the tie break. I knew I had to take my chances, from behind the court, I knew he would grind me down and I had to be aggressive.”

Which he was throughout in what was an increasingly savage affair, the baseliner Thiem ramping up power and velocity as he came numbingly close to an exit he can hardly have expected, saving match point in a fourth set tie-break through a sumptuous, single handed backhand that even Roger Federer might have envied.

It was a moment that separates the very good from the very gutsy, 24-year-old Thiem showing his hand when it mattered. And pivotally, so did Sandgren, striding into a final set when he will have known he should have been settling into the victor’s ice bath.

Dominic Thiem couldn’t put a stop to the American’s fairytale.

The monetary difference between winning and losing in this round is $200,000 and Sandgren with career earnings of $478,785 could be forgiven for not keeping his focus as the fifth set began, but serving and volleying sublimely — this won him many, many points at the net — he saw out the match with the thrust of a time served top 20 player.

The extra money banked will pay for an upgrade on the long flight home should he wish but he is far for done yet. He is, seemingly, fearless and a third set spat with the umpire over alleged shouting between serves by Thiems’ camp, remained calm and focused.

He was, before last week when he served notice by dethroning past champion Stan Wawrinka, little more than a journeyman but from now will be a player known for his game rather than his name. He was that good.

Sandgren had all the answers against Thiem.

Sandgren opened his post-match press conference by telling the waiting journalists, “I didn’t think I’d see you again’.

They didn’t think they’d see him either.

One reporter said,” We were trying to find the last guy who made a grand slam quarterfinal with less of a pedigree than you,” he said.

“We were struggling.”

Sandgren replied, “Really? Sick.”

BREAK DOES BERDYCH WONDERS

An enforced time out to recover from lower back problems last year is already paying dividends in 2018 said 19th seed Tomas Berdych as he sailed into his seventh quarter-final at Melbourne Park with a straight sets thumping of Italy’s Fabio Fognini.

Injury has allowed him a new perspective the 32-year-old said.

“As long as I’m healthy, then I think I can be still competitive way enough,” Berdych said.

“If one day I’m going to wake up and I say, ‘all right, that’s it’, then that’s it.

“Now I’m in the (career) stage where I just need to have fun from tennis and enjoy it.

“With that, I’m very confident that the results will come.”

Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych is all smiles after belting Italy’s Fabio Fognini. Picture: AFP

He was upfront about how to prepare for an almost certain clash with defending champion Roger Federer next, a man he has beaten six times, though lost another 19.

“If there is any plan or any key to success, then I would like to know that,” he said.

“I’m definitely going to go out there and believe that I can do it.

“I did it in the past, in the slams, so I know how it is to beat him for the best of five sets.

“But obviously he’s extremely tough opponent, and, yeah, just go out there and swing some balls.”

Beaten foe, Fognini, is not a man who, naturally, elicits, much warmth or sympathy. He is the bad boy of men’s tennis — he has a grand slam ban pending should he misbehave following an odious outburst against a female umpire at last year’s US Open — but on Margaret Court Arena disappointed only with his play.

Bad boy Fabio Fognini battled an ankle injury during his clash with Berdych. Picture: AFP

At times he moved the bigger and more powerful Czech around the court with ease but, despite exuding a look of menace, never remotely convinced he was about to challenge for a last eight berth.

Both men had reached beyond where they might have expected their rankings to take them, Fognini seeded six places below Berdych at 25. The Italian though arrived dressed for the beach — a swirly red and black ensemble decorated with half a dozen or so human skulls (the manufacturer’s trademark) — and played like it too, casual, there for a nice day out despite having his ankle bandaged courtside by a physio in the opening set.

Berdych does not come equipped with the sparks or creativity of Fognini but came simply to do a job and did it well. He deserves his last eight slot.

Berdych was just too good, but now he has to face Roger Federer. Picture: Getty Images