2022 US Open semi-finalist Karen Khachanov appears to be close to his best form. The Russian beats one opponent after another at the Australian Open, although the victory over the American Francis Tiafoe turned out to be incredibly nervous and emotional. At one point, it seemed that Karen had lost psychological stability, but in the end, the athlete managed to turn the game around.

An outstanding comeback of a Russian tennis player!

Dominance in the first two sets

Khachanov is a tennis player from a new generation of Russian top talent. At the same time, it was Karen who was the first to begin to achieve success, while the star of Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev rose a little later. However, Daniil and Andrey gradually went up, and Khachanov’s progress stalled somewhat. There are many reasons for this – objective and not very. But now it does not matter anymore, because it looks like Karen is returning to the top of world tennis again.

Already in the second half of last season, it was clear that the Russian was gaining strength. The US Open semi-final is no joke. Here in Australia, Karen still looks great. In the third round, he had to meet with the American Francis Tiafoe, who was two lines above him in the ranking. There was no question of any easy walk. Moreover, Tiafoe was considered the favorite of the confrontation.

However, the match began, and Khachanov began to dominate. He had 40 minutes to take the first set with a score of 6:3. One break at the start was enough, and then he brought the matter to the end. Although there was an unpleasant moment in the first game, when Karen saved from 5 break points. The second set again began with a break from Khachanov, but Tiafoe answered it with his own. Nevertheless, the Russian still put the squeeze on his opponent and this time – 6:4. He was literally one step away to get into the 1/8 finals, where the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka was already waiting for him.

Photo: © Lintao Zhang / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The shameful behavior of the stands and the great comeback

During the first two sets, Khachanov literally smeared the American around the court. I felt the reserve that the Russian has. However, then everything broke down. Karen suddenly lost the third set with a score of 3:6, and the situation became much more complicated. It was necessary to decide everything in the fourth, otherwise the American would have received a complete psychological advantage and, most likely, would have won.

Karen gathered himself and a fight ensued. Everything would be fine, but then the Russians began to interfere with the fans in the stands. At some point, Khachanov just got furious and approached the judge, asking him to influence the fans. Their behavior was simply shameful.

“Ref, tell them this. Getting sick is normal, not a problem. But let them show respect,” said the Russian.

“I don’t think it’s cool to be happy about my double fault. I know that you are rooting for another tennis player. We had a difficult period of the pandemic, now the audience is rooting against me, but I still enjoy it, ”Karen said after the match.

The fourth set was incredibly hard for the Russian. In the end, everything had to be decided in a tie-break, and then the American took the lead with a score of 6:1. This is the end? No matter how! Khachan made a crazy comeback and snatched the victory with a score of 11:9. And together with her went to the next round of the Australian Open.

Karen became the first Russian participant in this stage of the 2023 tournament and for the first time in his career reached the second week of the Australian Open. I would like to believe that Khachanov will not stop there, he is quite capable of surpassing the Japanese Nishioka.