At the men’s tournament of the ATP-250 series in Almaty and at the women’s 500 tournament in Ningbo, the second round matches with the participation of Russian tennis players ended on Thursday, October 17. Karen Khachanov and Anna Kalinskaya met that day.
Khachanov (26) in Almaty passed the first round without a fight, and in the second he met with the representative of Finland Otto Virtanen (116). The tennis players faced each other for the first time. And after the elimination of Aslan Karatsev, Karen remained the only Russian in the Almaty category.
The play in the first set developed quickly and the rallies did not last long. Khachanov held his serve reliably, but could not reach break points in his opponent’s games – Virtanen served even cleaner and more precise.
As expected, the result of the first game was decided only in a tiebreaker. This part of the set Karen spent actively, she began to go to the net a little more often and act more confidently in defense. Otto’s first serve began to fail and in the tiebreaker he could only take two points.
Karen Khachanov
Photo: Hugo Hu/Getty Images
In the second set, Virtanen began to serve worse and thus helped Khachanov in the fourth game. Karen had some minor difficulties with the score 4:2, 0:30 on her serve, but even here she put pressure on the Finn, successfully reached the net a couple of times and still left this mini-game behind.
A little more difficulty overtook Khachanov as he served for the match with a score of 5:4. The Russian could not complete this match, decided to prolong the match and, due to a couple of unnecessary errors, allowed Virtanen to break.
Otherwise, Khachanov’s level of play in this match was quite high. In the tiebreaker, Karen easily won the match with a final score of 7:6 (7:2), 7:6 (7:3). In the quarterfinals, the Russian will compete with the representative of Kazakhstan, Beibit Zhukaev.
Next, in Ningbo, Anna Kalinskaya (12) fought for a place in the quarterfinals. His opponent was the representative of China Yuan Yue (46). The girls met for the first time.
Kalinskaya began her performance in Ningbo not without difficulties. In the first round, Anna defeated the lucky loser Priscilla Hon in three difficult sets (3:6, 6:3, 6:4). During the match, the Russian took a medical timeout.
It took Kalinskaya time and a dropped serve to get into the game and understand how to pace her opponent. Anna realized quickly: from 0:2 she went back to 4:2. The Chinese played more often in the defensive line, trying to place balls in the corners from a safe position in the middle and take risks on the counterattack. The Russian moved better around the court and regularly went up to the net, trying to be the first to reach the ball.
Yuan also fought with the score 4:3 on Anna’s serve. The Chinese had three break points and an active game behind, but her desire to quickly end the rally and the outs prevented her from realizing her plans. Kalinskaya held on well and still took her game, and then the first set (6-3).
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In the second game, Kalinskaya managed to understand her opponent’s serve and began to receive more forcefully. In many aspects of the game, Anna was more convincing than the current Chinese. The Russian obtained the first three match points in a reception with the score 5:2, but she was in a hurry, sent several balls in a row to the net and did not finish the task immediately.
Everything went well for Kalinskaya with a score of 5:3. Anna, however, had to dig in and resist Yue’s aggressive tennis, but with the fifth match point she ended the match 6:3, 6:3.
In the quarterfinals, the Russian will face the winner of the match between Karolina Muchova and Jacqueline Christian. And in the second match of the quarterfinals, Mirra Andreeva and Barbora Krejcikova will play in Ani’s half of the draw. Therefore, it is possible that the Russian semi-final is waiting for us in Ningbo.
The tournaments in Ningbo and Almaty will take place until Sunday, October 20. Don’t forget to follow all the “Championship” events.
