Tennis News • Sonego Stuns Djokovic on Day of Quarterfinal Surprises in Vienna

By Ricky Dimon

Lorenzo Sonego lost in the final round of qualifying at the Erste Bank Open. Five days later, he is into the semifinals with a win over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Such is the fickle nature of tennis. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. It did for Djokovic, for example, at this summer’s US Open. And now it has for Sonego, who appeared to be out of the tournament on Sunday but will now take with him from Vienna the biggest moment of his career–regardless of what happens the rest of the way.

The 25-year-old Italian got a lucky-loser spot in the main draw when Diego Schwartzman withdrew, and he started to make the most of it by beating Dusan Lajovic and Hubert Hurkacz. His results obviously reached a whole new level on Friday, when Sonego did not just upset Djokovic but quite simply destroyed the top-seeded Serbian 6-2, 6-1.

Sonego struck eight aces without double-faulting and won 11 of the 12 total break points played in the match–six of six saved and five of six converted.

“For sure it’s the best victory of my life,” the world No 42 assured. “Novak is the best in the world. Today I played so, so good. It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing. I played the best match in my life. I’m so happy for this.”

Sonego’s heroics obviously caused the biggest surprise on Friday, but he was not alone.

Daniil Medvedev crashed out to Kevin Anderson 6-5, 7-6(5), and defending champion Dominic Thiem fell to Andrey Rublev 7-6(5), 6-2. A tournament that started with one of the best 500-point fields ever now has only one seed–No. 5 Rublev–in the semis.

World No. 33 Dan Evans defeated Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 to snag the last semifinal spot.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.