Tennis
The curse is lifted! The Russian tennis player won a major victory
Karen Khachanov / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexey Filippov
After defeating Djokovic in Paris, the Russian tennis player could not win the title.
Tuesday’s program turned out to be intense and very interesting for fans from Russia. Several of our athletes won in the first round of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo. In the men’s singles it was even more fun – two of our tennis players competed in parallel in the finals of the Chinese ATP 250 series tournaments.
Roman Safiullin was close to a sensational victory over a strong opponent, but still no miracle happened. But Karen Khachanov left no chance for his opponent in his final and took the long-awaited title!
The first personal trophy for our tennis player since 2018.
Zverev did not flinch
On Tuesday, Russian tennis player Roman Safiullin tried to compete for victory in the final of the ATP 250 series tournament in Chengdu, China. His opponent was Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev. A little earlier, in another city of the People’s Republic of China, Zhuhai, Karen Khachanov appeared on the court, and had to compete with the representative of Japan, Yoshihito Nishioka, in the battle for the trophy. The winner of the 2021 Davis Cup and vice-champion of the 2020 Games received the first seed at his tournament and was considered as the main favorite. Of course, he had strong rivals, including among his compatriots. Aslan Karatsev reached the semi-finals, but the Russian final never became a reality – our athlete lost to Nishioka.
For Safiullin, participation in the final confrontation itself could be considered an achievement. On the way to the main match, he knocked out the American Nakashima, the British Evans, the Australian Thompson and the Italian Musetti, who, by the way, had the second seed. In the final, Roman was awaited by Olympic champion Tokyo Zverev, who was seeded number one in Chengdu. It seemed that our athlete had little chance of success in this dispute – especially since the German’s serve flew well right away. But Safiullin clung to his chances and reached a tiebreaker in the first set. Alexander, perhaps, did not expect such agility from his opponent: in the decisive period of the game he was not like himself, giving the Russian victory.
The second set was also an even fight, but from the outside it seemed that our tennis player had slowed down a little – as if he was counting on the Olympic champion to continue to make mistakes regularly. It came down to a tiebreaker again, where Safiullin almost performed a minor miracle by retrieving the dead ball. But, alas, the positive moment did not in any way affect the outcome; Zverev achieved victory and entered the third game with full confidence that the trophy would not escape him. And indeed, in the decisive set, the titled tennis player did not flinch, winning with a score of 6:3.
Karen didn’t give the final
Khachanov started in Zhuhai with a confident victory in two sets over Australian Alex Bolt. Then he suffered a little in the quarterfinals with American Mackenzie McDonald, giving his opponent the opening game, but taking the remaining two. In the semifinals, Karen stopped another American, Sebastian Korda (7:5, 6:4). To get to the trophy, all that remained was to deal with the 46th racket of the ATP ranking, Nishioka.
Khachanov started powerfully, and the fans might have thought that this meeting would not last long. However, after the break, the Russian tennis player lost some ground and was unable to build on his success. The Japanese won three games in a row and already took the lead. Perhaps the key moment of the game was the situation in the 10th game, when Karen brilliantly hit the court twice, turning the tide in the game and leveling the score in the game. Our tennis player was not going to settle for little and confidently snatched victory in the tiebreak – 7:2.
In the second game, the Japanese was completely unable to impose a fight on Khachanov. Having taken his only serve, Nishioka was no longer able to catch a single game. Perhaps I couldn’t stand it physically, maybe it was the failure at the end of the first set that broke me. But it became obvious that Karen would not give up the final – the Russian succeeded in almost everything. He won games to zero, pulled some incredible balls, served powerfully and cunningly outplayed his opponent during rallies. The result was a 6:1 victory in the set and 2:0 in the match.
For the 27-year-old athlete, the trophy in China was the fifth in his career, if only ATP tournaments are taken into account. The last time a Russian won was in November 2018, when he managed to defeat Novak Djokovic at the Masters series tournament in Paris. We can only hope that fans won’t have to wait so long for the tennis player’s next triumph.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
Elina Svitolina (WTA 12) – Kristina Buksha (WTA 51) will meet in the first round of the Australian Open on January 18.
The match will start at 04.30 Kyiv time.
Sport.ua together with a betting partner bet announcing the upcoming fight!
Elina Svitolina
The Ukrainian tennis player decided to start the season with a tournament in Auckland, where there was no strong squad, and Svitolina was also seeded. As a result, the athlete confirmed his status by winning the championship. Although the tennis player gave up only one set during the entire tournament, it cannot be said that it was easy in the match against Sonay Kartal in the quarter-finals, when everything went into a tiebreaker. In the final match, Svitolina defeated China’s Wang Xinyu.
Now the Ukrainian begins his journey in another major in which he has never won, despite having a good career. If Svitolina manages to overcome the Spanish flu, she will face the winner of the Klimovicheva-Jones double.
Kristina Buksha
The Spaniard is less famous than his upcoming rival; He recently turned 28, but he is not remembered for anything significant. Buksha is a strong middle peasant who is already quite a bit in world tennis.
The athlete started the season with a strong tournament in Brisbane, defeating Hungarian Anna Bondar with great difficulty in the first round – 4:6, 7:6, 6:2. And in the second round she could do nothing against Aryna Sabalenka – 0:6, 1:6. In the Australian major, the athlete reached the third round at most, but it will be difficult to win even the first match this year.
Buksha is playing better in doubles and even managed to win a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
To guess
Statistics show that the athletes have not played each other before and the Ukrainian player is the expected favorite in the upcoming match. Elina has a higher status, has a better start to the season and has an advantage in terms of ratings.
Although Buksha is not the last middle peasant, I do not think that the Ukrainians will have problems. Here I will bet Svitolina to win 1.66 with a -4.5 handicap.
Elina Svitolina01/18/2026 –
04:30
Kristina Buksha 1.66 place a bet KRAIL License No. 559 dated 12/05/2024 Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
On January 18, Dayana Yastremska (WTA 27) and Elena-Gabriela Ruse (WTA 79) will face each other in the first round of the Australian Open.
The match will start at 02.00 Kyiv time.
Sport.ua together with a betting partner bet announcing the upcoming fight!
Dayana Yastremskaya
The Ukrainian is not having a bright start to the season, but if he manages to perform well at the Australian Major, he will be forgotten. In Brisbane, Yastremskaya played relatively well, managed to beat the Australian Gibson and the strong Fernandez from Canada, and lost in a tough fight against the strong American Pegula.
It all ended quickly in Adelaide, losing to the experienced but manageable Czech Siniakova by scores of 0:6, 1:6 in 54 minutes. These kinds of defeats have to be icy cold, there are no opponents you can beat, you have to do your best in every match. Diana has the talent to perform at a high level of tennis and you need to do your best in this tournament. Let me remind you that the Ukrainian athlete showed his best performance in the big league in 2024, when he managed to reach the semi-finals.
Elena-Gabriela Ruse
The Romanian tennis player is known to fans of this sport, although he lacks stars in the sky, as he is considered a good average player. For five years, Ruse has been in the top hundred, although he sometimes leaves.
The athlete, who participated in two tournaments this season, first qualified for the tournament by beating Subasic and Sönmez in Brisbane, but immediately lost to the famous Kenin in the main event in three sets. The scenario was similar in Adelaide; In the qualifying rounds, victories were achieved in three sets against the English Swan and the Czech Sinyakova, followed by victories from the “neutral” Kalinskaya 0:6, 3:6.
personal meetings
In one-on-one matches, the score is 2:0 in favor of the Romanian; Hamburg won three sets on clay in 2021, as well as two sets at the 2023 US Open.
To guess
No matter how pretentious it sounds, a lot will depend on Yastremskaya’s mood; If his game goes well, everything can end in defeat. There may also be an option for the Ukrainian player to bring victory to his opponent.
Nobody wants to be eliminated in the first round; Ukrainian is a little favorite, I agree. Here I propose to bet on Dayana’s net victory of 1.77.
Dayana Yastremskaya 01/18/2026 –
02:00
Elena-Gabriela Ruse 1.77 place a bet KRAIL License No. 559 dated 12/05/2024 Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Tennis
Marta Kostyuk – Elsa Jacquemot. Prediction and announcement for the Australian Open 2026 match
On January 18, Marta Kostyuk (WTA 20) – Elsa Jacquemot (WTA 58) will meet in the first round of the Australian Open.
The match will start at 03.30 Kyiv time.
Sport.ua together with a betting partner bet announcing the upcoming fight!
Marta Kostyuk
The Ukrainian has been in the news since the beginning of this year due to his amazing performance in Brisbane. Yes, Marta could not win the championship, losing to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Here I want to talk more about Kostyuk’s path to the final, she eliminated three tennis players in the top 10, Amanda Anisimova (WTA 3), Mirra Andreeva (WTA 7) and Jessica Pegula (WTA 6), and at the beginning there was a victory over the experienced Putintseva.
Such a strong performance allowed the Ukrainian player to break into the top 20. I was impressed not only by the result, but also by the confident, mature game, there were no chances here, Marta was stronger than her strong opponents.
Elsa Jacquemot
The French tennis player cannot be called a rising star; he is 22 years old; He made a breakthrough last season, climbing more than a hundred places, which allowed him to break into the top 100. This year the athlete has already dropped three places in the world rankings.
The start of the season doesn’t look very optimistic yet; Jacquemo played in Brisbane and Hobart, losing in devastating fashion on both occasions. First he lost to Australian Tomljanovic 1:6, 3:6, then to the Polish Frenchman 4:6, 0:6. It is difficult to expect an outstanding game against such weak matches. Perhaps conclusions will be drawn from defeats, but here you will have to play even against an opponent stronger than the previous ones.
To guess
The tennis players are not far apart in the rankings, only 38 places and almost the same age in years, with Marta being a year older. Despite this, Kostyuk is considered the undisputed favorite by bookmakers.
Such quotes can be explained by the fact that the Ukrainian player was impressed in Brisbane and therefore they expected a strong performance from him. I would like to point out that the tennis players have never played each other before.
Looking ahead, I will say that in the next round the best of this pair will play with the winner of the pair Putintsev – Haddad Maya. I agree that Marta is in great form, so I’m betting her to win at 1.66 with a -5.5 game handicap.
Marta Kostyuk01/18/2026 –
03:30
Elsa Jacquemot 1.66 place a bet KRAIL License No. 559 dated 12/05/2024
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
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