American youngster Sebastian Korda is through to the third round of the Australian Open after prevailing in a thrilling five-setter against France’s Corentin Moutet.
The match was decided in a fifth-set tiebreaker, one which the American won 10-6, giving him a 3-6 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 7-6 (10-6) win over Moutet.
Moutet will be ruing a bizarre moment which took place just moments before the tiebreaker in the deciding set, when he took a selfie with a fan on the brink of the tiebreaker getting underway.
The decision to take the selfie even caught Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou by surprise.
You must wonder whether the selfie caused a snap in Frenchman’s concentration, he probably is wondering just that as he heads back to the locker room.
It was a match that was full of action and included one of the more bizarre winners ever seen at Melbourne Park.
With Korda leading 4-3 in the final set, Moutet thought he’d sent a forehand beyond the baseline and stopped playing mid-point, only for the ball to be ruled in, with Korda’s soft return catching the Frenchman by surprise.
Moutet was stunned by the play, which gave Korda a 30-0 lead on his opponent’s service game as he desperately remonstrated with the chair umpire.
One of the highlights of the match came during the fifth-set tie-break, when Korda won a point in an incredible rally to take a 7-5 lead.
“Helluva point,” wrote tennis journalist Alex Gruskin on Twitter. Sports journalist Jasper Chellapah labelled the match “superbly bizarre” and “a ripping five-setter”.
Korda will meet Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round and made sure to emulate his dad Petr’s famous scissor-kick celebration after his hard-fought win.
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