New York, Sep 4 (IANS) World No. 50 Karen Khachanov earned his first Top 10 scalp of the year at the US Open in New York, upsetting World No. 4 and last year’s semifinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime in a second-round match on Thursday.
Khachanov came back strongly after losing the first set in a tie-break to oust the Canadian star Auger-Aliassime 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. With this, he also took a 3-2 lead in their head-to-head series.
Khachanov arrived in New York having lost all three hard-court matches that he had played since his third-round defeat at Wimbledon in July. The 30-year-old is also competing at No. 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings this week, having been inside the Top 10 last year at the hard-court major.
Despite enduring a tough season, the 30-year-old produced a dominant second-round win over Auger-Aliassime to advance to at least the third round at all four majors this year.
“I am not sure, but maybe he had some physical issues, and that is part of our sport,” Khachanov said in his on-court interview. “I wish him to feel better and have a speedy recovery if he is injured. I don’t know. What I can say from my side is I tried to give my best performance. Fighting, and I am super happy to get this win.”
Khachanov, who is 18-18 on the year, was rock solid from the baseline and benefited from an out-of-sorts performance from the third seed. Auger-Aliassime sprayed 47 unforced errors and quickly faded from the three-hour, 16-minute clash after dropping the second set.
Canadian Auger-Aliassime was unable to find his timing and was dominated on his second serve, winning just 41 per cent of points behind that delivery. After reaching the semifinals at the US Open 12 months ago, Auger-Aliassime is likely to fall in the ATP Rankings.
Auger-Aliassime performed well at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this season, losing in the quarterfinals at both events, including a fifth-set tie-break defeat to Novak Djokovic at SW19. The 26-year-old was chasing his 50th major win and was trying to join Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic as just the third Canadian man to achieve that feat.
It is the first time Khachanov has advanced to the third round at Flushing Meadows since he reached the semi-finals in 2022. The seven-time tour-level titlist will next meet Peruvian star Ignacio Buse or Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.
“The last month didn’t go well for me, so we have been practising, and I am sure I am fit,” Khachanov added. The last tournament of the American swing, with the US Open, coming with the mindset to perform well and to try to take one step at a time.”
–IANS
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