Karen Khachanov rallied from a break down twice in the opening set before cruising through to an easy win in the second set to beat Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 at the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
Kukushkin converted his third break point chance in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead. Khachanov broke straight back in the fifth game at 30 for 2-3. Kukushkin broke again in the sixth game with an ace to take a 4-2 lead. Khachanov recovered from the break down for the second time at deuce in the seventh game and held serve at love to draw level to 4-4. Both players went on serve in the next games en route to the tie-break. Khachanov rallied from 0-1 down to win the te-break 7-2.
Khachanov broke twice in a row and dropped just one point on his first serve to seal the second set 6-1. The 23-year-old Russian player has improved his win-loss record to 8-5 this record.
Khachanov set up a second round match against either Prajnesh Gunneswaran or Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak.
“There were some difficult moments during the match. I was a break down two times. That’s really great to keep that first set. I think it was an important one. It was not an easy opening match. The first round is always pretty tough. I am really happy I could get the win. I have another match, another opportunity to play better, like always, to improve”, said Khachanov.
