Khachanov first man to stop Tiafoe in 2023; advances at Australian Open
ATP
Karen Khachanov stopped Frances Tiafoe's winning run in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open.
Both of these players played some solid tennis before their third-round meeting in Melbourne. That applied especially to Tiafoe. The American player had yet to lose a match in 2023. He won five matches at the United Cup and two more at the Australian Open.
In the first set, Khachanov took an early lead by breaking his opponent already in the second game. After the Russian player comfortably held his serve from that moment, he won the first set 6-3.
The second set was also dominated by Khachanov, who won it 6-4. This time, the American player managed to break back once, but his opponent still managed to get one break ahead and win the set.
In the third set, Tiafoe fought back and won it 6-3. That gave him a chance to potentially force the match into a fifth set. He didn't allow the Russian to have any break points in the third set, and things were looking promising for Tiafoe.
However, there was nothing between the two in the fourth set, which is why a tie-break had to decide it. The tie-break was a proper rollercoaster, as Tiafoe had five set points when he led 6-1 before the Russian started coming back.
Shockingly, Khachanov won the tie-break 9-7 to win the match 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(9), eliminating Tiafoe in the third round of the tournament. The Russian player hit a total of 52 winners and only made 27 unforced errors.
He also served well, winning 70% of his first-serve points and 54% of his second-serve points. Tiafoe, on the other hand, hit 65 winners and made 52 unforced errors.
Khachanov will want to follow up on his semi-final run from the 2022 US Open. In the next round, he will play against the 31st-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka.
