Khachanov achieved a tiebreaker of 26 ties! The Russian is already in the Doha final
Arina Poluyanova February 23, 2024, 20:17 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The Russian beat the Australian Popyrin and is now preparing to fight for the sixth title of his career.
Karen Khachanov remained the only one of the three Russians at the ATP-250 series tournament in Doha. And on Friday, February 23, the Russian and the Australian Alexei Popyrin competed for a ticket to the final.
From the first games it was clear that both tennis players would trust each other’s services. However, already in the third minigame, he disappointed Khachanov a little and the Russian allowed his opponent to escape. In the first set, Karen firmly established herself on the baseline, played deep, tried to force the Australian, but did not give in to the game of her Russian opponent and scored winners with enviable regularity: in the fifth game, Alexey had nine of them .
Popyrin had the first problems with his serve when the score was 4:3, thanks to which Khachanov was able to break and level the score. It all came down to a tiebreaker. Karen was very good at it, but Alexey also endured and carried a lot. The Russian was leading 4:0, but brought the score to 5:5, lost a fundamental and prolonged rally, then defended three set points from his opponent and on his fifth attempt closed the fantastic tiebreak with 14:12. The first set lasted a total of 1 hour 5 minutes.
Karen Khachanov
Photo: Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Popyrin found it difficult to get back into the game after the disappointing first game loss. The Australian tried to resist the Russian, but already in the third game he allowed him to escape. In the middle of the second set, something started bothering Alexey: it looked like abdominal muscles. Karen’s previous opponent, Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, also called a doctor to the court and withdrew from the match due to lower back problems.
After the fifth game, Popyrin took a timeout for medical reasons, but still continued the match and even got three break points in the next game. However, at that moment Khachanov was much fresher and more confident than his opponent, so he won back all the dangerous points, and then he himself broke and led with a score of 5: 2. The winner of this match was clear: Karen completed the set with a score of 6:2 and reached the first final of this season.
For Khachanov and Popyrin this meeting was the fourth, before that the Russian led the personal confrontations with 2:1. The last time the tennis players played was in October at the start of the 500 meters in Tokyo. Then the Australian was stronger 6:4, 6:2.
For Khachanov this was the second consecutive semi-final. In early February, Karen fought her way to the decisive phase of the Marseille tournament, but lost to Grigor Dimitrov in three sets: 7:6, 4:6, 6:7. The Doha final will be the eighth of his career for the Russian. Of the previous seven decisive matches, he won five.
As for the rankings, Khachanov is currently ranked 17th. Reaching the final will allow him to rank 15th, and Karen will remain there even if she wins in Doha. Popyrin, thanks to the semi-finals in Qatar, will improve her position by 8 positions and take 38th place in the ranking.
In the final, Khachanov will compete with the winner of the match between Jakub Menshik and Gael Monfils. The decisive match will take place on Saturday, February 24.
