Khachanov is in the first semi-final in six months! Karen, taking advantage of her experience, defeated the number 50 racket in the world in one hour
Arina Poluyanova February 9, 2024, 21:40 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
To enter the decisive match in Marseille, the Russian can compete with Dimitrov, whom he has never beaten.
Karen Khachanov continues fighting in Marseille. In the second round of the ATP-250 series tournament, the Russian argued with the world’s 50th racket player Zhang Zhizhen.
Khachanov was the first to serve. In the last match against the Spanish Roberto Bautista Agut, the Russian served well and scored 13 aces. In today’s match with Zhizhen, Karen continued this good tradition and thanks to his serve she won her games quite comfortably.
At the same time, Zhizhen also did not give away his services and was very convincing. The Chinese tennis player responded to his opponent in various ways, throwing cutting blows at the Russian playing on the baseline and driving him around the court, but he still made mistakes and was not ready to even get close to a break on serve. Karen. .
Zhang played actively in the first set and was good in his serve: with the score 3:4 he served four aces in a row and closed the game at zero. The fate of the first game would be decided by the first to lose concentration on his serve or find a response to his opponent’s shots. In the end, everything worked out in favor of Khachanov. Zhang, with the score 4:5, began to be too careful, made mistakes and gave the Russian two break points. He recovered the first point, but couldn’t win the second: he missed and ended up in contact. The opening set went to Karen – 6:4.
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In the second set, as in the first, Khachanov was calm and there was little fuss in his game. Compared to his opponent, the Russian seemed much more experienced. Although Zhizhen and Karen are the same age. The Chinese tennis player had a hard time playing in the decisive moments. On the Russian’s first break point, with the score 1:2, Zhang served softly, let his opponent slide forward and beat him to the net. Karen immediately took the lead in the second game 3:1.
Zhang’s serve struggle became increasingly intense compared to the first set. With the score 1:4 on the Chinese serve, the Russian got a break point and a hidden match point. Zhizhen recovered the first dangerous point, but failed to win the second, and Karen came out to serve when the score was 5:1.
Khachanov managed to complete the match on the first attempt. Zhizhen, of course, fought back, bringing the game to 30:30, but the Russian was very convincing. In 1 hour and 1 minute, Karen beat Zhang 6:4, 6:1.
This was the first meeting between Khachanov and Zhang. Earlier in Marseille, the Chinese athlete defeated the lucky loser Giulio Zeppieri and the seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Russian passed the first round without fighting on the French courts, and in the second he overcame Roberto Bautista Agut.
The Marseille tournament was Khachanov’s first after the Australian Open. In Melbourne, where Karen reached the semi-finals at most in 2023, this time he could only reach the fourth round. One step away from the quarterfinals, the Russian lost to future champion Jannik Sinner (4-6, 5-7, 3-6).
Khachanov did not play in Marseille last year. Additionally, in 2018 he won the second title of his career on local courts.
For Khachanov, this final will be the first since September 2023. Karen then not only reached the final and a half, but also won the title at the ATP-250 series tournament in Zhuhai, the first after his injury and since 2018.
In the semifinals of the tournament in Marseille, Khachanov will face the winner of the match between Arthur Rinderknesh and Grigor Dimitrov. Karen has a difficult history of meetings with the Bulgarian: in none of the three matches did the Russian beat Grigor.
The tournament in Marseille will take place from February 5 to 11. The current winner is Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, who defends the title this year.
