Karen Khachanov advanced to his first Grand Slam quarter-final with a 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over Juan Martin Del Potro at the French Open.
Despite his youth, the Russian, 23, had already played the Argentine on three previous occasions (including at the 2018 Australian Open) and he lost them all.
This time the signs pointed to a different outcome and those omens proved to be correct. Khachanov has improved with each match at Roland Garros and raised his level significantly for this encounter. Meanwhile, Del Potro is not fully fit as he is still recovering from a knee injury he suffered in October.
“I would say it’s my best result,” the Russian said in his on-court interview. “I’m through to my first Grand Slam quarter-final. The atmosphere was really good.”
Khachanov storms ahead
The first set was very tight. Both players served well, and this meant there were very few opportunities to break.
When chances did arise for Del Potro in games five and eleven, Khachanov unleashed a succession of powerful strikes to snuff them out.
This proved crucial because, when the Russian earned a break point of his own in game twelve, he took it to grab the opening set 7-5.
Buoyed by this triumph, Khachanov played superbly in the second set. He completely dominated on serve and won 92% of points behind his first serve and 67% behind his second.
He also broke Del Potro to love in game two and, because he served so well, this was enough to enable him to wrap up the set 6-3 in just 38 minutes.
Del Potro makes Khachanov work for his win
However, the Argentine quickly put to bed any suggestions the match might be over soon. He raised his level significantly to power a couple of big winners past Khachanov and break in the second game.
The Russian dug in and broke back to level the set at 2-2. But Del Potro soon re-established his two game lead by unleashing some more huge groundstrokes to break again in game six.
The World No.9 faced break points in games seven and nine, but he was in no mood to allow Khachanov back into the set, so he fought them off and closed out the set 6-3.
After the third set, the Russian knew he needed to respond to prevent the match going the distance. He saved two break points in the opening game and then attacked Del Potro’s serve to great effect to secure an early break.
He almost broke again in game four, but the Argentine just about held on to keep himself in the match.
Khachanov put Del Potro’s serve under intense pressure again in game six, but once again the World No.9 held on. After two more holds of serve took the score to 5-3, the Russian had a chance to serve for the match.
The Argentine made him work for it by unleashing a huge forehand winner at 15-all. But the World No.11 was undaunted. He hit a forehand winner to make it 30-all, drew an error to earn a match point and then clinched victory with an ace.
