S . Korean tennis star continues impressive run at Australian Open by beating Djokovic SEOUL , Jan . 22 ( Yonhap ) -- Chung Hyeon continued his impressive run at the Australian Open on Monday after he beat former world No . 1 Novak Djokovic to become the first South Korean to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam event . Chung produced another upset at the Australian Open after he knocked out Djokovic 3 - 0 ( 7 - 6 ( 7 - 4 ) , 7 - 5 , 7 - 6 ( 7 - 3 ) ) in the round of 16 contest at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne . He reached the last 16 at the season ' s first grand slam event with a surprising win over world No . 4 Alexander Zverev on Saturday . This was Chung ' s second meeting with Djokovic . The two players previously met in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open , where Djokovic defeated Chung in three straight sets and went on to win his sixth Australian Open crown . Chung will next face 97 th - ranked Tennys Sandgren of the U . S . , who also had an upset win against fifth - seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria , in the quarterfinal . Chung is now the first South Korean tennis player to reach the last eight at a Grand Slam tournament . Previously , Lee Duk - hee in the women ' s singles at the 1981 U . S Open and Lee Hyun - taik in the men ' s singles at the 2000 and 2007 U . S . Opens had reached the round of 16 . Chung , currently highest - ranked South Korean male tennis player at No . 58 , had a good start by winning the first four games against Djokovic , who has dropped to 14 th in the world rankings while battling injuries . In this photo taken by the Associated Press on Jan . 22 , 2018 , South Korea ' s Chung Hyeon hits a forehand return to Serbia ' s Novak Djokovic during their round of 16 match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne , Australia . ( Yonhap ) kdon @ yna . co . kr ( END )