Karen Khachanov won the ATP tournament for the first time in five years

The winner of the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships, a 250 category tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of $1 million, which ended in Zhuhai, China, was Karen Khachanov, who beat Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the final in two sets. This is the Russian’s first title since the fall of 2018. At a similar level of competition, the Chengdu Open, which finished in Chengdu, another Russian, Roman Safiullin, lost his first ATP final to Alexander Zverev from Germany in three games.

Finals These two relatively small Chinese ATP tournaments began at the same time and during the first hour they were held approximately the same, although the balance of forces in them from the point of view of the chances of Russian players looked fundamentally different. Karen Khachanov, of course, was considered the clear favorite in the meeting with the 46th racket of the world Yoshihito Nishioka. Only one argument could be made in favor of the Japanese – Khachanov’s lack of playing practice, which he was deprived of almost the entire summer due to a serious lower back injury. True, Nishioka has also been virtually inactive lately. Between Roland Garros and the Zhuhai tournament, he played six competitions and won only one match.

A short but fleet-footed left-hander who knows how to use the power of his opponent’s blow, Nishioka resisted very well in the first game and, having given up his serve in the fifth game, soon made a return break.

Moreover, with the score 5:4 in his favor, the Japanese was even two points away from winning the set, which Khachanov prevented with the help of two luxurious forehands in a row. In the tiebreaker, the Russian lost 1:2 with a mini-break, after which he won six points in a row. And then the intrigue quickly faded away, as Khachanov’s tactics, based on total pressure, bore fruit. He drove the unfortunate Japanese so hard along the back line that he simply suffocated, began to give one point after another and lost five games in a row. As a result – 7:6 (7:2), 6:1 in 1 hour 42 minutes. Having won 36 points with blows straight through to his opponent’s 14 with a draw score of unforced errors (7:7), Khachanov won a convincing victory, confidently confirming his status as the first racket of the tournament.

For a Russian, this success is very important in all respects.

Firstly, from a psychological point of view, after all, while consistently remaining in the world rankings in the top thirty, he has not won a title since November 2018, when he sensationally outplayed Novak Djokovic. Secondly, there is still hope that Khachanov this season will still be able to compete for a place in the top ten and even for one of the tickets to the final tournament in Turin, where the top eight will gather. There is no doubt that the newly crowned champion of Zhuhai deserves it, because he spent the first half of the year very well, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Miami, the quarter-finals in Madrid and Roland Garros. And although it will be very difficult to compensate for the recent forced downtime, theoretically nothing is lost for Khachanov. In terms of points scored this year, he, as well as in the rankings based on the results of 52 weeks, is 14th. Up to the eighth place, which is occupied by the Dane Holger Rune, there are 895 points, and if we manage to maintain the current level of play, as well as avoid new injuries, it is still possible to eliminate such a gap, even if not immediately, but gradually. From Zhuhai, Khachanov goes to Beijing for the 500 category tournament, where he will play in the first round with Italian Lorenzo Musetti. Further in his immediate plans are the Masters in Shanghai and the Tokyo 500.

Before the match between Roman Safiullin and Alexander Zverev, the preliminary alignment was completely different.

The same age as the tenth racket in the world, the 26-year-old Russian was playing his first final at the ATP level, and experience in such cases plays a huge role. However, for most of this meeting it was impossible to predict the winner. With the help of a powerful serve and spectacular shots from the baseline, after which the ball flew as if from a sling, Safiullin repeatedly baffled his titled opponent and took the first set in a tiebreak, during which he led from the first point to the last.

At the beginning of the second set, there was a moment when it seemed that just a little more and Zverev would simply give up: after making three errors within a couple of minutes, he gave up the second game on his serve. Had Safiullin been able to immediately consolidate his success, most likely he would have emerged victorious, but Zverev immediately bounced back. And in the tiebreaker, having lost an amazingly beautiful rally, he immediately made an ace and led – 6:5, after which Safiullin made a double fault. This failure broke the Russian, and the third game was dictated by his opponent, who won in almost three hours – 6:7 (2:7), 7:6 (7:5), 6:3.

Having won his second title this season and the 21st of his career, Zverev moved into seventh place in the Turin race and significantly increased his chances of qualifying for the final tournament, which he has already won twice.

But Safiullin should also be pleased with the result shown in Chengdu. Having overcome 14 positions in the ranking at once, he rose to the highest place in his career, 41st. And since with his current level of play on fast surfaces it is possible to fight even with representatives of the top ten on equal terms, he has a great chance to finish the season in the top 30. And Roman Safiullin did not score that many rating points that he now has to defend last fall.

Evgeniy Fedyakov