Karen Khachanov laid the foundation of the season

Karen Khachanov failed to reach the final of the Australian Open, in which the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat the Russian in four sets, and the Serbian Novak Djokovic will meet. Nevertheless, in general, the Russian showed a great game in Melbourne and a good result, which allowed him to rise in the world ranking from 20th to 13th and count on a quick return to the top 10.

One can probably argue about how great were the chances of Karen Khachanov to reach the final of the Australian Open. But it is certainly impossible to call his meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas a match of missed opportunities.

It was that classic case when the loser also deserved to win, but the strongest won.

That is, the result of the semi-finals to a much greater extent predetermined the merits of the Greek than the shortcomings of the Russian.

It has always been difficult for Khachanov to play with tennis players who, when hitting from the left, hold the racket with one hand. The fact is that with such strikes it is easier to give the ball additional rotation, in connection with which it bounces off the court along a higher trajectory. The Russian, on the other hand, prefers to meet the ball at a lower point, so it is more difficult for him to use one of his main trump cards – power. And it is not surprising that Tsitsipas learned to use this nuance long ago, especially at the reception, coping with Khachanov’s strong serve.

In addition, in the first game, the Russian faced total bad luck. Within a few minutes, Tsitsipas swept all the lines with the ball, acting on the verge of risk, but with jewelry accuracy. Nevertheless, the Russian held on. Having served twice, he returned it, demonstrating his trademark two-handed backhand on the line and proving that in the game under pressure, Tsitsipas sometimes loses control of his technically perfect movements.

The hit rate of the first serve of the Greek in the first set was extremely low – only 46% (for comparison: in the second set it increased to 72%). And yet the outcome of the first tie-break, during which Tsitsipas gave only two points, looked natural. And the key segment of the match came in the second half of the second game. In the eighth game, Tsitsipas’ serve finally began to fight, and Khachanov needed to demonstrate his maximum in those minutes. But it turned out the other way around. In the ninth game, with the score at 15:30, the Russian did not succeed in performing smashes, which the opponent managed to repel with high candles, being at the very billboards, and after a couple of minutes, Tsitsipas confidently filed for a set. It became obvious that escape in such a situation is almost impossible.

And yet Khachanov continued to fight. In the third set, already pressed against the wall, he not only won back the serve, but also took a tie-break, reflecting two match points. For the Greek, an extremely unpleasant moment has come. In such situations, he was lost more than once, but this Friday Roger Federer himself could envy his composure. Tsitsipas was not affected by any remarks for delaying the time when serving, or electronically recorded steps when serving, or Khachanov’s perseverance. As soon as the Russians slightly weakened their vigilance, as at the beginning of the fourth installment, Tsitsipas again took the lead and did not miss the lead.

Taking 84% of the points on his first serve and winning 66 points with blows right through, 20 more than Khachanov, the Greek showed great attacking tennis. Tsitsipas’ forehand is currently a very formidable weapon, he is also very good in defense, so it’s far from a fact that Novak Djokovic, in turn, is relatively easy figured out with the American Tommy Paul, is the undisputed favorite of the upcoming final. At stake in it, by the way, will be the title of the first racket of the world, which is now likely to pass from the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, either to the Serb or to the Greek.

As for Khachanov, he just had a great first month of the year, summing up the base for the whole season.

Having played two quarter-finals in Adelaide and a semi-final in Melbourne, the Russian scored 810 points, on Monday he will rise from 20th place to 13th and will be slightly inferior to Daniil Medvedev. Moreover, in the next four months before the start of Roland Garros, Khachanov needs to defend only 300 points, that is, he has an excellent opportunity to return to the top ten. To do this, you need to successfully play a couple of tournaments. Particularly significant for Khachanov are the mandatory Masters 1000 competitions in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, where he won only two matches in total last year.

Evgeny Fedyakov