INDIAN WELLS: South Korea's Chung Hyeon survived a late rally from Pablo Cuevas on Wednesday in the fourth round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters, holding on for a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Uruguay's Cuevas fended off nine match points before eventually losing in the first-ever meeting between the pair.
Chung, 21, advanced to the quarter-finals, where he will play either world number one Roger Federer or France's Jeremy Chardy.
Down a set and behind 5-0 in the second set, Cuevas miraculously saved seven match points to win the game.
He then served out the next game to cut Chung's lead to 5-2 and then broke the South Korean in the game after that.
Cuevas saved two more match points in the ninth game but his luck finally ran out.
World number 26 Chung could face Federer for the second time this year in the next round. Chung made a Grand Slam breakthrough when he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January but had to retire in his match with Federer because of a foot blister.
Chung is off to a 15-5 start this season and has reached the quarter-finals or better in four of five tournaments.
In other men's fourth round action, Croatia's Borna Coric blasted nine aces as he outlasted American Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4.
Coric improved to 10-3 on the season and 2-0 against Fritz. In 2016 they squared off at Roland Garros with Coric winning 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
Coric, 21, needed two hours and 11 minutes to pull out the victory on the main stadium court against 20-year-old Fritz.
Unseeded Coric moves to the quarter-finals, where he will play either South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson or Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.