After having reached a career-high ranking of 51 late last year, Hyeon Chung completed four weeks of military training. On Monday, he picked apart sixth seed and 2016 finalist Borna Coric’s game with a precision which would have made any military proud.
The South Korean won the battle of 20-year-olds 6-3, 7-5 to set up a second round meeting against Israel’s Dudi Sela, who earlier beat Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-2.
Last year after Coric reached the final here, he went on to lose in the first round of each of his next three tournaments which also included the Australian Open. Better things were expected from Coric in 2017.
It might be a fallacy to read too much into his false start here, coming back as he was from a knee injury towards the end of the last season. Players at the start of the season are often rusty too. But a few nervous jitters are surely in place for it was surely a crushing loss.
His forehand, the money shot, was almost always off. He routinely hit cross-court forehands beyond the tramlines. Chung, who came through the qualifying rounds where he even beat a former top-10 player in Austrian Jurgen Melzer, was steady.
He broke Coric right at the start, and then after letting the Croat back, surged to a 4-2 lead. The way he consolidated his second break was impressive as he had the courage to execute two delightful drops at 15-15 and 30-30. He broke Coric again at 3-5, winning the set with a splendid forehand winner.
The second set was a slug fest. Coric had to save three break points to hold to 1-1, two more to hold to 2-2 and four more to hold to 4-4. After all the hard work, he seemed to have taken control of the set when he broke to 5-4. But Chung reeled off three games in a row to close out the match.
The day’s first match between Russian Daniil Medvedev and Brazilian Thiago Monteiro was as drab as it could get. It was perhaps apt that there were only a handful of spectators. Even the 6-3, 6-3 scoreline in favour of the Russian was flattering at best.
Monteiro had the better legs, chasing down balls with verve. On most occasions he even positioned himself to execute what could be sure-shot winners. But the lack of penetrative power did him in. Under a steady breeze both players struggled to control their shots. Yet, the Russian had a hedonist’s streak in him, so intrinsic to players from his country, to bail him out.
He broke to 3-1 in the first set, held to 4-1 and for a game or two looked rather bored to be on court. But he regrouped in time to take the set 6-3. After a few tight games early in the second set, the Russian broke away again to take the match.
The results (First round, Indians unless specified): Daniil Medvedev (Rus) bt Thiago Monteiro (Bra) 6-3, 6-3; Hyeon Chung (Kor) bt Borna Coric (Cro) 6-3, 7-5; Dudi Sela (ISR) bt Damir Dzumhur (Bih) 6-2, 6-2; Jozef Kovalik (Svk) bt Gastao Elias (Por) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2; Steve Darcis (Bel) bt Nikola Mektic (Cro) 6-2, 6-3; Jurgen Melzer (Aut) & Renzo Olivo (Arg) bt Andre Begemann (Ger) & Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) 4-6, 7-6 (3) 11-9.
