Russian Kachmazov reached the quarter-finals in his debut, winning two matches in a tournament for the first time.
Alexander Nasonov September 20, 2024, 17:25 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
In the semi-final in Chengdu, Alibek will face Nicholas Harry from the top 30. And Karen Khachanov unexpectedly lost to the Chinese in Hangzhou.
On Friday, September 20, the second round matches of the ATP-250 tournament began in the Chinese cities of Chengdu and Hangzhou. The first match was played by Russian tennis player Alibek Kachmazov, against Japanese player Taro Daniel. Kachmazov, who had made it through the qualifiers, defeated American Alexander Kovacevich in the first round, and Daniel eliminated Italian Lorenzo Sonego, the sixth seed, 6:4, 7:5.
Daniel was considered the favourite of the match. The Japanese are ranked in the top 90 of the ATP rankings, and Kachmazov is in the middle of the third hundred. But this did not prevent the Russian from winning, without losing a single set. In the first game, however, Daniel was the first to take the opponent’s serve, but Kachmazov held the break for 3:3. After that, the players took three of their games and went to the tie-break, where Alibek lost the first point on his serve and then managed seven draws in a row – 7:6 (7:1) in 52 minutes.
Well, in the second set, Kachmazov had an overwhelming advantage. In his three games, he lost only two points and made three breaks without missing a single break point. In the seventh game, Alibek took the match 7:6 (7:1), 6:1 in 1 hour and 22 minutes. The Russian served well throughout the match and finished the match with eight aces to his name, without committing a single double fault. Throughout the match, Kachmazov had some great winners from different points on the court. The conditions in Chengdu (the city is 500 meters above sea level) contributed to Alibek’s victory.
By winning this match, Kachmazov broke two personal records at once. Before the Chengdu tournament, he had one win and four losses in the main draw of ATP tournaments. Thus, Alibek reached the quarter-finals at the ATP level for the first time. Secondly, it was the first time he won more than one match in the main draw.
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In the quarter-finals, Kachmazov will face third seed Nicholas Harry, ranked 28th in the world. And on Saturday, 21 September, eighth seed Roman Safiullin will play his round of 16 match.
In Hangzhou, second seed Karen Khachanov played his second round match. Khachanov played his first competitive match since the US Open, where he was eliminated in the first round. The Russian’s opponent today was Chinese tennis player Bu Yunchaokete (WC), the number 124 in the world.
Khachanov immediately started serving and there were aces. And in the fourth game, Karen successfully worked on the return and, having lost only one point, made a break for 3:1. The Russian was unable to take advantage of his success: he allowed Boo to make a counterattack, although he had a game point, after which the Chinese, serving, equalized the score – 3:3.
In the second half of the game, Boo also broke out (eight aces each in the first set) and neither of the opponents had even a hint of break points. Naturally, everything ended in a tie-break. In it, Karen was constantly in a recovery position, played three mini-breaks and two set points, but on the third set point the Chinese came to the net in a timely manner and beat Khachanov 7:6 (9:7) in 1 hour.
During the first set, Khachanov turned to his box more than once and asked: “What’s going on?” In the second game, the Russian’s problems continued. Karen started the set with a break, but in the fourth game Boo crushed his opponent on the third break point and tied the score 2:2. However, after that, Khachanov seized the initiative; in this he was helped by the fact that in the fifth game his opponent doubled on a break point. Karen did not waste this advantage. In the remaining three games he lost only one point – 6:4 in 45 minutes. In this set, Khachanov served six more times.
In the decisive set, Boo immediately gained the upper hand. In the second game, he scored a break: Khachanov hesitated on a break point in a long rally and made a length error. The Chinese did not give him a chance to recover. In the remaining games, he served clearly and won an unexpected victory (in the final game, Karen could not resist and threw her racket onto the court) – 7:6 (9:7), 4:6, 6:3 in 2 hours 28 minutes.
The Chengdu and Hangzhou tournaments will end on Tuesday, September 24. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
