Roger Federer won his quarterfinal match at Indian Wells against 21-year-old Hyeon Chung with an ace; Chung challenged the call, and lost. The 36-year-old world No. 1 punctuating a straight-sets victory by reminding the young gun with the mighty return game that he still has much to learn.
And Chung, the leader of a pack of 21-and-unders who are knocking on the door as the next wave in the sport, challenging the call, a bit of youthful defiance to let the all-time great know he will fight every point to the very end.
"[Chung has] good intensity. He's solid in his mind. I like his speed of shots," Federer said after the match. "He's very consistent. In today's game, that's a lot. I see a lot of good things moving forward for him. But experience is a good thing, too. It's not just about the young legs."
Although many were looking to the unrelenting Chung to be the player to end Federer's unbeaten 2018 streak - the Swiss is now 16-0, which matches his best start to a season - the Korean struggled to break the master.
He was only one-for-six on break points, and served zero aces, while Federer's service games were brilliant and quick. Federer won 70 percent of his first-serve points and fired 12 aces, including one to seal the match.
"I was asked what did I expect today from Chung, and I wasn't quite sure," Federer said. "I had a plan in place, but then you adjust to it constantly. You just don't know his patterns yet. I like that. I like it when it's the unknown, even though it can be a bit scary."
In other fourth-round men’s matches, Borna Coric of Croatia outlasted American Taylor Fritz 6-2 6-7 (10-8) 6-4 and No. 31 Phillipp Kohlschreiber of Germany beat Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France 6-4 7-6 (9-7).
Coric next plays No. 7 Kevin Anderson of South Africa, who beat No. 11 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 4-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8).
