Khachanov reached the third round of the Rome Masters. Karen defeated the ex-Russian without problems
Kirill Plyshevsky May 10, 2024, 20:40 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
In the next round of the thousandth tournament in the capital of Italy, the 27-year-old Muscovite will face the winner of the pair Francisco Serundulo – Matteo Gigante.
On Friday, May 10, the men’s singles second round matches of the Rome supertournament began. The third Russian racket player, Karen Khachanov, also competed today. His opponent was the former Russian and now Kazakh tennis player Alexander Shevchenko; the athlete changed his sports citizenship at the beginning of 2024.
Karen, seeded number 16 in Rome, missed the first round of the competition. But Alexander already managed to play a match at the Italian Masters. At the beginning of the tournament, the 23-year-old player from Rostov-on-Don unexpectedly defeated the strong Fabian Marozan 6:3, 6:2. The Hungarian tennis player did not take a single game from his opponent in the reception, in addition, he did not have a single break point.
Overall, Shevchenko is not having a very successful 2024 clay season. In Marrakech, Monte Carlo and Munich he did not win a single match, and in Madrid, after defeating Arthur Rinderknesh, he suffered a crushing defeat against two-time TBS champion Carlos Alcaraz (2-6, 1-6). In early May, Alexander lost to Argentine Facundo Bagnis in the second round of the Aix-en-Provence Challenger.
Khachanov, on the other hand, can boast of good performances this year on clay. In Monte Carlo, the silver medalist of the Tokyo Olympics in singles reached the quarterfinals, where he could not face the future winner of the real thousandth, Stefanos Tsitsipas. In Madrid, Karen won two fights. In the fourth round of the tournament, the national athlete was defeated by the Italian Jannik Sinner. The Russian himself valued his performance in the competition in the capital of Spain.
“Now I am happy with my physical condition: form, pace, everything together. It is a shame, of course, not to have won the match against Yannick and not to advance further, but the game can always be better sometimes and sometimes worse. In the first round it was a difficult match, but I won in three sets (Khachanov won the match against Roberto Bautista Agut in 2 hours 26 minutes by 3:6, 6:3, 7:5. – “Championship” note). So, judging by the results of the tournament, I see everything with optimism. I think I can improve so that matches like Sinner’s are more in my favor. Of course, I can’t say that the Madrid tournament was wonderful for me, it always seems that you want more, that you can do better, especially if you don’t win the title. But based on the results of the Masters, I understand what things I need to improve,” Khachanov said in an interview with the Bolshe! channel.
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Khachanov was unable to put the finishing touches on Sinner in Madrid. Karen lost to the formidable Italian for the fourth time
The score of personal meetings is 1-0 in favor of Shevchenko. She won on indoor hard court in the quarterfinals of Metz 2023 (6-4, 6-4).
The opening match of the new head-to-head confrontation was a very tenacious and even fight. At first, the tennis players took their serves with confidence, not even allowing themselves to reach break points. In the seventh game of the set, Karen had the first receiving opportunity, but she made a mistake on the left side after a 20-25 exchange. In the end, Alejandro survived the difficult situation and took the lead 4:3. Already in the next game, Shevchenko himself had two break points, but could not take advantage of them (4:4). The key moment of the match came in the ninth game. The native of Rostov-on-Don could not stand his service. It is noteworthy that at the break point the 60th racket in the world committed a double fault. Khachanov could only serve for the set and did so confidently: 6:4 in 56 minutes. Karen served well, tried to hold on to the return, actively used her forehand cross and, when possible, went to the net.
Karen Khachanov
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Already in the first game of the next game, the world’s 18th racket paused. At the break point, Karen made an excellent pass from the left along the line, Alexander from the defense made a good cross with a cross, then Khachanov sent a rather oblique cross from the right and Shevchenko arrived behind the line background: 1:0. This advantage was enough for the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist in singles to win the final over his rival 6:4, 6:4. Note that the Russian still had the opportunity to take the opponent’s serve, but the latter slightly improved his game and in the end he even caught the return, earning a break point. At that moment, Karen came to the rescue with a serve. In the third round of the Rome Masters, Khachanov will face the winner of the pair Francisco Serundulo (Argentina) – Matteo Gigante (Italy).
The Rome supertournament will end on May 19. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
