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| - Tennys Sandgren sent eighth seed Matteo Berrettini packing from the Australian Open Wednesday as the American eyes another strong performance after his scandal-marred run to the 2018 quarter-finals. Berrettini, last year's US Open semi-finalist, slumped to defeat in a five-set marathon which finished 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 7-5 in 3hrs 23 mins -- the highest ranked seed to fall so far. It was a disappointing end for the Italian, who reached the US Open semi-finals and stormed up the rankings last year, reaching a new career-high 10 times. Sandgren, a devout Christian, achieved his best Grand Slam result at Melbourne Park in 2018 but it was overshadowed by controversy over his political views and links to right-wing activists. Sandgren was forced to wipe the slate clean, deleting years of social media postings. Among his tweets, Sandgren had appeared to back a debunked online conspiracy in 2016 which linked Hillary Clinton to a supposed child sex abuse ring at a Washington pizzeria. He also retweeted a video from white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes. Ranked 100, his reward for beating Berrettini is a third-round clash against fellow American Sam Querrey. mp/th
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