Tim Henman has applauded Sebastian Korda’s performance in the fourth-round of the Australian Open while recognising the win as a ‘great story’ for the tournament.
After an intense five-setter, Korda overcame 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7) victory to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
As the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, and with the rest of his family also excelling at sport, Korda recently joked that he was the ‘worst athlete in the family’, but Henman believes his deep run into the tournament is a great story to add to his family's background.
‘’It was amazing to watch,” Henman said.
“It was interesting to hear Seb Korda after the match. [He] sounded pretty relaxed but it didn’t look that way in the fifth set tie-breaker.
“Both of them were very nervous, a lot of unforced errors but it’s about finding a way to get over the line and it’s an amazing win for him.
“Having beaten [Daniil] Medvedev the round before, it’s not always easy to back that up and the first four sets were very one sided for each of them but the fifth set was much, much closer.
“I think it’s a great story not just for him but for the tournament with his family background, it’s a great win.’’
Mats Wilander added that Korda had the advantage in the match, despite being seeded 12 places higher than his opponent, as he is more of a ‘complete’ player.
‘’I think he makes a difference because he does seem to have a few more options than Hurkacz,” Wilander said.
“He’s a bit more natural in taking a short ball and coming forwards, he came forwards on one of those short balls and hit an overhead when Hurkacz ran into the speedometer in the corner so I think that’s what gave him the result.
“Hurkacz was serving good until the end then he couldn’t really find a first serve and it felt he needed a first serve to win points and Hurkacz - the weirdest point is the chipped forehand return, I think he’s going to go home and talk to his coach about why he would do that - nerves of course.
“But Korda, he’s more of a complete player in a way even though Hurkacz was seeded 10, it was Korda’s match to lose.”
Korda will take on Karen Khachanov on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals.
More must-reads: