Hyeon Chung won his first match since advancing to the Australian Open semi-finals, defeating lucky loser Cameron Norrie 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the Delray Beach Open on Monday afternoon in one hour, 41 minutes.
“It was a really tough match today because the wind was really strong,” Chung said. “However, I tried to stay calm. The guy played really well at the baseline so I was just trying to focus every point.”
Just a year ago, Chung lost in Delray Beach qualifying. But after soaring from No. 104 to 58th in the ATP Rankings in 2017 — and also winning the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan — the South Korean has quickly become a star on the ATP World Tour. The 21-year-old is now World No. 30.
“I’m trying to enjoy it all the time, because it’s my second time in Delray Beach,” Chung said. “I’m already better than last year.”
Chung will face the winner of an all-qualifier match between #NextGenATP Kazakh Alexander Bublik and Franko Skugor.
American Donald Young also got off to a strong start in Delray Beach, ousting qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-1, 6-2 in 69 minutes for his first win of the season. The left-hander will play inaugural New York Open champion Kevin Anderson or Evgeny Donskoy in the second round.
Top seed Jack Sock will be in action Monday evening, as the American plays qualifier John-Patrick Smith in the final match of the day.
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