Karen Chaczanow

[Art]

[Damian]

[Damian]

[Damian]

Karen Khachanov edged past Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-3 to earn his 200th tour-level win. The 26-year-old, who earned his maiden tour-level victory in St. Petersburg in 2013, will take on Marin Cilic or Borna Coric in the second round.

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[Damian]

Khachanov Earns 200th Match Win In Montreal

Spoiler:

Karen Khachanov earned every bit of his 200th tour-level singles win on Monday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. After splitting two sets of razor-thin margins against Francisco Cerundolo, the 26-year-old powered through the decider in a 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-3 victory.

The World No. 28 improved to 200-154 with the result, hitting 22 winners and five aces in the two-hour, 43-minute contest. Khachanov was six of nine on break chances and claimed the only break of the final set in its fourth game. After moving ahead 3-1, he dropped just two points on serve the rest of the way, closing out the win with a love hold.

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A two-time semi-finalst at the ATP Masters 1000 event (2018-19), Khachanov earned his first ATP Tour win in St. Petersburg in 2013 and rose to a career-high of No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2019. He won three of his four tour-level titles in 2018, including his trophy triumph at the Rolex Paris Masters.

His best result of 2022 is a run to the Adelaide-1 final in January. Now at 26-18 on the season, he will next meet Marin Cilic or Borna Coric in the second round.

In one of the marquee opening-round matchups in Montreal, Alex de Minaur was four points away from victory against home favourite Denis Shapovalov when heavy rain stopped play for the day. The Australian took the opening set 7-5 with a break in its final game, then clawed back an early break in the second to force a tie-break, which is knotted at 3-3.


Atlanta champion De Minaur is seeking his first win in his third appearance at the Canadian event, as well as his first win against a Canadian opponent (0-7). Shapovalov, who was firing up his home crowd throughout the match, is seeking to improve upon a 1-8 run in his last nine matches since defeating Rafael Nadal in Rome.

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[Nando]

[Damian]

[Damian]

Khachanov/Shapovalov Win, Botic Sets Medvedev Clash In Cincinnati

Spoiler:

It rained on and off for most of Sunday in Cincinnati, but Karen Khachanov and Denis Shapovalov made the most of it in more ways than one.

The singles stars enjoyed the delays with the centre court crowd, even briefly dancing to the music during a delay before battling past Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(6), 6-7(12), 10-6 to reach the second round of the Western & Southern Open.

"Seriously thanks to all the fans who stayed late and through the delays!!" Shapovalov wrote in an Instagram story. "Your energy the entire match was ."

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/khachan ... 022-sunday

[Damian]

[Bombardiero]

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[Damian]

The World No. 96 Kudla could not maintain his bright start against Karen Khachanov, with the 27th seed prevailing 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, while Marton Fucsovics advanced to the second round after 30th seed Cressy retired from the pair’s first-round clash with the Hungarian leading 6-7(4), 7-5, 5-1.

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[Damian]

[Damian]

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[Damian]

In other action, Karen Khachanov advanced to the fourth round for the first time after #NextGenATP Briton Jack Draper was forced to retire due to an injury between his hamstring and groin. The 27th seed Khachanov was leading a highly competitive clash 3-6, 6-4, 6-5 when play was stopped on Grandstand at the two-hour, 28-minute mark.

The 26-year-old will next face Montreal champion Pablo Carreno Busta or 18th seed Alex de Minaur.

Draper leaves New York holding a 42-14 record across all levels this season. The 20-year-old, who upset sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round on debut at the major, is fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan. The Briton is aiming to qualify for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals for the first time this year.

“It's been a really positive week for me,” Draper said when reflecting on his recent success. “This is my second Slam on merit. It's very different playing the five-set matches. Beaten a couple of really good players, and I felt like today I was coming back. I would have had a chance to win that match if I was injury free. I think in terms of reflecting, I can be very positive about the year I've had so far as well.”

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[Damian]

Checkmate: Khachanov On Chess, LeBron James & A US Open First

Spoiler:

Learn more about the 26-year-old, who is into the fourth round in New York
When Karen Khachanov was a kid, he did more than train to become a professional tennis player. The Moscow-native swam, played basketball and participated in athletics.

But from ages 10-11, he also attended chess class. Instead of blasting forehands and crushing backhands, Khachanov learned to outmanoeuvre opponents on a 64-square board, where no physical power or foot speed could help him.

“[In chess] you need to think all the time. You have 100 different combinations and variations with each move. It always depends which figure your opponent will move. There always has to be some tactics and for sure it’s a mental game as well,” Khachanov said. “You need to stay sometimes three, four hours in a competition if we’re talking about professional chess to sweat it out and try to think about one move [for] maybe 30 minutes.

“You break your head and that’s the really interesting part of the chess game.”

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Some see Khachanov’s power from the baseline and miss the tactics he uses to position himself for his biggest shots. In a way, he believes all the thinking that goes into the sport makes it similar to chess.

“I think there are some similarities because you always think about what type of shot you can do, tactics are one of the most important things in tennis as well,” Khachanov said. “[It is about] where you place a shot, how hard, how high, percentage of the serves, where you’re going to stay, where you’re going to return and all those things. Of course they matter. It’s not that simple I would say, but there are some similarities.”

Khachanov does not constantly follow professional chess tournaments, but he is plenty familiar with the biggest stars in the chess world like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. He also watched The Queen’s Gambit, which he called “one of the nicest TV shows I remember on Netflix”.

One of his coaches, Jose Manuel ‘Pepo’ Clavet, is also a chess fan. When they are together, they play two or three games per day.

“I think the same way I am in tennis,” Khachanov said, cracking a laugh. “I try to be the same way.”

Khachanov is also a basketball fan, who attends NBA games when he can, like he did earlier this year during the Miami Open presented by Itau. The 26-year-old was a big fan of the Miami Heat when he was younger, watching LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh lead the team to glory. He is a big fan of James, which has led him to follow the Los Angeles Lakers more closely, although he is still a Heat fan.

“I think the way he is, the mentality that he has in the sport, what he [has] achieved already. He’s one of the best athletes. Let’s say [he is like] Cristiano in soccer, Messi in soccer, him, Jordan… like Rafa, Novak and Roger in tennis,” Khachanov said. “He’s one of the best basketball players. I think the way he stays motivated and is still looking forward to play at his best and is still scoring the way that he does, it’s tough to explain sometimes.”



On the court, Khachanov has been one of the most consistent players on the circuit in recent years. Since August 2018, he has been lodged in the Top 35 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings without falling from that group.

“Sometimes you just look forward to being better. Sometimes you can be worse as well, so in a way I never look back and think I’m Top 20, Top 30, Top 35. I always look forward to achieving my goals and try to move forward,” Khachanov said. “I always think of how I can improve to rise up in the rankings, to be back in the Top 10. This is the ultimate goal I have. I’m working every day to try to find out what I need [to do], what I can do better.”

Khachanov reached his career-high of World No. 8 in July 2019 after winning the Rolex Paris Masters, an ATP Masters 1000 event, the November before.

But one of his most impressive performances came in a loss. At the 2018 US Open, Khachanov pushed Rafael Nadal to the limit in a four-hour, 23-minute loss over four sets.

“I always am thinking about New York. It’s one of my favourite Slams, I would say, especially Arthur Ashe Stadium. The match against Rafa that I played in 2018, the emotions, the adrenaline, it is one of the good ones to remember,” Khachanov said. “That’s why coming back to New York I always want to do well.”

It is performances like those that make Khachanov confident on court. The 27th seed still believes he can compete with anyone on his best day.

“That’s a very important thing, first of all to believe in yourself, to believe in your abilities, what you can do when you play at your best, where you can be and which players you can beat, how far you can go. That’s obviously one of the mental parts, [the] self-belief that you can do well,” Khachanov said. “You can go out there and still lose a match and there is no shame in losing it. It’s the belief that you can go deep and win it all. That’s what it takes and that’s a really important part of my game and tennis in general.”

To Khachanov, his game is like a puzzle made of components, with some related to his physical tools and others to the mental side of the sport.

“All those parts are really important to put together,” Khachanov said. “[With them] I can achieve what I’m dreaming of.”

The next step in achieving those dreams will be to defeat Montreal champion Pablo Carreno Busta on Sunday at Flushing Meadows.

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