Tennis-Khachanov upsets Auger-Aliassime to reach US Open third round

NEW YORK, Sept 3 — Karen Khachanov stunned third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 6-2 on Thursday to reach the third round of ​the U.S. Open, capitalising as the 2025 semi-finalist struggled to deliver his best tennis on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Russian world number 50 Khachanov, who lost the opening match in his three U.S. Open ‌tune-up events, was far from spectacular but did enough on a day when his Canadian opponent's energy level appeared to drop as the match wore on.

"I ⁠saw that maybe he had some physical issues ... ​it's part of our sport," Khachanov said during his ⁠on-court interview. "I wish him, let's say, to feel better, speedy recovery if he's injured, I don't know.

"What I can ‌say from my side is ‌I tried to give my best performance, fighting, fighting. I'm super happy to get this ⁠win."

The result meant Khachanov has now reached the third round of ⁠all four Grand Slam tournaments in a single calendar year for the first time.

Khachanov, who made a run to the U.S. Open semi-finals in 2022, broke Auger-Aliassime's serve seven times on the Louis Armstrong Stadium court and saved seven of the nine break points he faced en route to securing only his second top-10 win at a Grand Slam.

Auger-Aliassime looked ready to whip through the first set after ‌consolidating a break for a 3-0 lead but was suddenly undone by ​a string of errors, allowing Khachanov to pull ahead before the Canadian broke for a second time to get to 4-4.

But Khachanov showed he was ready for a fight and twice held at love while serving to stay in the set before falling short in the tiebreaker, which ended when he sent a backhand long after chasing down an Auger-Aliassime volley.

In the second set it was Khachanov's turn to jump ahead 3-0 but he never looked back, ultimately closing it out on his serve after coming back from 15-40 down.

Khachanov ​cruised through the third set, breaking at love to reach 4-1 en route to wrapping up the frame on his serve ‌and leaving Auger-Aliassime ‌with a long ⁠road back on a day when little was going right for him.

The Russian, displaying full confidence in his swings, wasted little time in the fourth set, opening up a 4-0 lead that appeared to drain the energy and strength from Auger-Aliassime, who looked a shell of his normal self.

Khachanov went on to close out the encounter ‌with a four-point hold, the ​final blow coming with a massive serve that Auger-Aliassime failed to ‌return.

Up next for Khachanov, who has ⁠only reached two ​quarter-finals this year, will be either Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi or Peruvian 32nd seed Ignacio Buse.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing ​by Pritha Sarkar)

Related topics