South Korea’s Hyeon Chung was Thursday honoured as the Most Improved Player of 2015 in the ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon. The 19 year old received his award during a centre-court presentation at the Brisbane International, where he reached the second round.

Chung climbed more than 120 places from No. 173 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the start of the year, winning four titles on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2015. He also reached the Shenzhen quarter-finals and is currently at a career-high of No. 51.

“I’m very proud of this award,” Chung said. “It meant more to me as a professional athlete to be recognised by my fellow players. Getting the award was a surprise for sure. I didn’t begin the year with a specific rankings goal in mind. But I had some good opportunities, like getting a wild card in Miami, and qualifying for some other ATP tournaments. They were all great experiences and I’ll continue to try to keep jumping up the rankings.”

Visit the official ATP World Tour Awards section on ATPWorldTour.com

Lucas Pouille may be young, but the 21-year-old Frenchman played with veteran poise on Thursday at the Brisbane International, upsetting No. 6 seed David Goffin 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Pouille, the youngest of 10 Frenchmen in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, raced out to a 3-0 lead in the topsy-turvy opening set. But Goffin would level the score at 4-all, save a set point serving at 4-5 and force a tie-break. But Pouille held on to take the stanza.

Goffin wasn’t finished just yet. With Pouille serving to stay in the second set at 4-5, the Belgian Davis Cup hero scored a timely break of his own to even things at a set apiece.

But Pouille took control with a service break in the seventh game of the deciding set, and later added his third break to close it out in just over two hours.

This was their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Pouille, who out-aced his opponent 13-9 and saved nine of 11 break points, now awaits the winner of the Milos Raonic vs. Ivan Dodig match-up.

Doubles Dispatch: Inglot/Lindstedt Into Brisbane Semis

With the last remaining spot in the Brisbane semi-finals on the line, No. 4 seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt downed the all-Aussie duo of Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith 7-6(0), 6-2 in one hour and five minutes.

It was the all-Aussie duo of Reid/Smith that jumped out to a 2-0 first-set lead, but Inglot/Lindstedt stormed back to victory. They will next face No. 2 seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers.

Novak Djokovic cruised into the Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarter-finals on Wednesday when the World No. 1 beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 in 69 minutes. Djokovic, who also reached the last eight in 2015, extended his winning streak to 19 matches against left-handed opponents. He is bidding to capture his 60th tour-level title this week.

Djokovic goes onto face eighth seed Leonardo Mayer, who dropped just two of his first service points (26 of 28) in a 6-2, 6-4 win over Pablo Andujar. Djokovic beat Mayer in straight sets at the 2014 Australian Open.

Seventh seed Jeremy Chardy struck 12 aces and lost just five of his service points in beating fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-4. He now plays Illya Marchenko, who beat Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-2.

Second seed Rafael Nadal takes on Robin Haase later today.

Top seed Stan Wawrinka defeated youngster Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday at the Aircel Chennai Open. The Swiss moved past the 18-year-old Russian wild card in just under one hour to improve to 20-4 in Chennai. He is the two-time defending champion in the Indian metropolis and also took home the 2011 singles title.

The No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings was rock-solid on serve, striking six aces and converting over 80 per cent of points on both first and second deliveries. Wawrinka was equally menacing on the return, breaking Rublev three times on nine opportunities in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Next up for Wawrinka is fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who eliminated Croatian qualifier Ante Pavic 7-6(5), 6-1.

The 26-year-old Pavic, ranked No. 449 started strongly against the No. 27 Garcia-Lopez. The 32-year-old Spaniard was pushed to the limit by the underdog before sneaking off with the set in a tie-break after an hour.

Energized by the narrow escape, the 2005 Chennai semi-finalist raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set and closed on win on his first match point. In the quarter-finals, Garcia-Lopez will aim for a fourth win in 10 attempts against Wawrinka.

Also victorious was eighth seed Borna Coric, who eliminated American Austin Krajicek 6-2, 7-5 in 90 minutes. The Croatian broke Krajicek three times (3/10) and saved the lone break point faced to secure his third match win in Chennai and move into the final eight for the first time in India. He is slated to meet fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the next round.