At the ATP-250 series tournament in Almaty on Saturday, October 19, the semifinals were held. Russian Karen Khachanov participated in one of them.
Karen plays in Almaty as the third seed. This allowed him to get through the first round without a fight, after which the Russian defeated Otto Virtanen (7:6 (7:2), 7:6 (7:3)) and Beibit Zhukaev (6:2, 6:4 ). ). His current rival, the Australian Aleksandar Vukic, played three matches before the semifinals, in which he defeated James Duckworth (6-4, 7-5), the current tournament champion Adriano Mannarino (7-6 (7-4) , 6:3) and the first seed Francis Tiafoe (6:2, 7:6 (13:11)).
Karen (26) and Aleksandar (85) meet again for the third time. The score in their confrontation is 1-1. The last match took place this summer in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, then the Australian turned out to be stronger (6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4)).
In Kazakhstan, Khachanov had to take revenge. His opponent Vukic held his serve well throughout the tournament, did not let his opponents reach break points and even started the match with the Russian with two aces. But Karen quickly adapted to the Australian and gave him difficulties in the first game, although he did not manage to escape.
A little later, Vukic succeeded: he began to read Khachanov’s serve and finish the rallies with some shots. Karen had to quickly think of something new, while Aleksandar once again sought his unbreakable services.
Khachanov showed excellent restraint at the end of this set. He fended off a couple of set points from his opponent, defended his serves and sent the game to a tie-break, but alas, Vukic dominated almost every rally. Still, the service and frequent trips to the network gave the Australian a big advantage. The opening set went to Aleksandar – 7:6 (7:3).
Karen Khachanov
Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
At the beginning of the second set, Vukic’s concentration decreased slightly, thanks to which Khachanov got several break points in the third game, but the Australian immediately jumped in and played everything.
And yet, Aleksandar failed to maintain the same concentration until the end of the match. Khachanov finally made a break in the eighth game, after which he came out to serve, scored three aces in a row and easily closed the set in his favor 6:3.
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Khachanov reached the semi-finals for the first time since February. But Rublev lost to the 39-year-old TBS champion.
In the decisive game, Vukic began to serve more smoothly, which helped Khachanov make an early break. Karen played and Aleksandar, on the other hand, lost his powerful first serve and his confidence in rallies.
In the third game everything was in Khachanov’s hands. He only gave his opponent two games. With the score 5:2, Karen came out to serve for the match. In several rallies, Vukic put pressure on the Russian, got his second wind, took advantage of Karen’s careful actions and suddenly broke through.
It’s great that Khachanov had an advantage. He played his next serve with a little more confidence and this helped him finish the match. The Russian won with a final score of 6:7, 6:3, 6:4 and reached the decisive phase. There, number 118 in the ATP ranking, Gabriel Diallo, awaits him.
For Khachanov, this is the first final since February, when he took the title at the ATP-250 series tournament in Doha. Such a successful performance in Kazakhstan will allow Karen not only to get closer to her previous form, but also to return to the top 25 of the ranking.
The Almaty final will take place on Sunday, October 20. Follow the result of the tournament in the “Championship”.
