WHAT HAPPENED: No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia needed five hard-hitting sets to outduel Jannik Sinner of Italy, 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0, 7-6, on Day 2 of the 2020 US Open.
Khachanov entered today’s contest against Sinner as one of 14 seeded men in the tournament under the age of 25. Next time at the US Open, there is little doubt that Sinner, who turned 19 two weeks ago, will be part of that promising group of young players. He began 2020 as the youngest player in the ATP’s Top 100 and showed in this first-round match against Khachanov why he is one of the fastest-rising players on the men’s tour.
The two players engaged in a tremendous slugfest in the first two sets, with both players rocketing forehands and backhands with abandon. Sinner took both sets by being just as potent as Khachanov but a bit more precise, hitting more winners and making fewer errors.
The 6-foot-6 Khanchanov remained undaunted, however. When Sinner’s level play dipped early in the third set—as he began to show signs of physical discomfort and eventually needed to call for a trainer—Khachanov was ready to take charge. With Sinner moving gingerly, Khachanov won the third and fourth sets comfortably, and seemed ready to close out the match quickly in the fifth set.
Yet Sinner refused to give in. Although moving slowly after every point, he managed to hold serve, game after game, through the fifth set to force a decisive tiebreak. Khachanov, to his credit, never yielded either. He jumped out to the early lead in the tiebreak, and when Sinner hit a backhand into the net at the three-hour-and 44-minute mark, Khachanov’s two-sets-from-behind comeback was complete.
WHAT IT MEANS: On Thursday, Khachanov will face his countryman Andrey Kuznetsov in the second round. The 29-year-old Kuznetsov was sidelined for most of the past three years with a hip injury. Today, he recorded his first victory since 2017, with a straight-set win over Sam Querrey.
MATCH POINTS: Last summer, Khachanov became the first Russian in nearly eight-and-a-half years to rank in the ATP Tour Top 10, beating Daniil Medvedev to that distinction by five weeks.
