The last American man standing in Melbourne is staging an American Tennys revival.
Australian Open debutant Tennys Sandgren continued his inspired AO run rallying past Maximilian Marterer, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (5) into his first career Grand Slam round of 16.
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After a week of American deflation, Sandgren delivered career elation.
"That sounds like a joke," Sandgren told ESPN's Patrick McEnroe. "Honestly, [fourth round] sounds like a joke. Wow, that’s pretty cool.
"Just appreciative of a lot of matches, a lot of tennis a lot of people keeping me in the right direction, the right path. I’m nothing without them. I’m really grateful."
The 26-year-old Sandgren arrived in Melbourne with just two career Tour-level victories to his credit and has already exceeded that total this week after stopping Jeremy Chardy in round one before sweeping a hobbled ninth-seeded Stan Wawrinka in the second round.
After dropping the first set today, an admittedly tight Sandgren conceded his thoughts of making a splash helped inspire his stand.
"After the first set, I thought if I walk off this court without fully engaging I would have to jump in the river," Sandgren said. "I thought about those [past] matches... I guess I’ve just grown a little bit since then. I was able to keep my head."
The 97th-ranked Sandgren will try to continue his run vs. fifth-ranked Dominic Thiem in the fourth round.
"He’s a beast, man," Sandgren said of Thiem. "He’s a beast. He’s a heck of a player. I don’t know if you can game plane against him. It will be a battle. It will be fun. I’m just looking forward to it."
Photo credit: @AustralianOpen