Khachanov – Rudd 1-3: With a terrible performance he made it to the final of the US Open

Kasper Ruud (No. 7) put in another terrific performance in New York, reaching his 2nd Grand Slam final with a four-set win over Karen Khachanov (No. 31) in 2022 and is now just a breath away from his math climb up 1st place in the world rankings.

The 23-year-old Norwegian, who played dominant tennis and served superbly for most of the match, didn’t leave much room for doubt to his Russian opponent to win the qualifier after three hours of competition.

Rudd prevailed 7-6(5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 and will win the first Major title of his career against Carlos Alcarath on Sunday (9/11).

Rudd hit more winners than Khachanov (52v43) and made fewer unforced errors (34v39) and was in complete control of the semifinals almost from start to finish.

Despite falling behind with a break in the opening set (3-4), the Norwegian found a way back, sending it into the tie-breaker and taking the all-important 1-0 lead after a grueling 55-stroke rally.

Khachanov, obviously affected by the development and the end of the 1st set, never entered the court in the 2nd part of the game.

In combination with the very high psyche of the 23-year-old Norwegian, the 2-0 came in no time at all. Rude was terrific, winning 16/16 points behind serve and counting 4/4 love service games. The 2/5 break chances were enough to give him the set comfortably at 6-2.

Although the 26-year-old Russian showed a reaction in game 3, holding serve the whole time and “hitting” Rudd in game 12 to reduce it to 2-1 (5-7), that was the level of tennis he caught not enough to bother the Norwegian any further. More… Ruud lost, although Khachanov still won the 3rd set.

And that was already evident in the next part of the semifinals. Another emphatic half hour for this year’s Roland Garros finalist. Just two lost games and sixth straight win at Flushing Meadows.

With 80/108 points won behind serve and 6/13 break points, Ruud finished the match doing… half the work to become the new ATR World No. 1 next Monday (12/9).

Now Rood and Alkarath will claim the No. 1 title in addition to their first Major title of their careers.

At the same time, Karen Khachanov’s excellent run at this year’s US Open ensured his return to the top 20 in the world rankings. He will gain 13 spots and move up to 18th in the world.

Source: Tennis24