Jannik Sinner has looked invincible so far at the 2024 Madrid Open but found himself in some trouble against Karen Khachanov, surviving in three sets.
Sinner had a tricky match against Pavel Kotov, who pushed him around a bit in the second set in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament. The Italian experienced hip pain, which was the major talking point about that match.
He stepped out to play today, and he did well, although this was by far the most complicated matchup he had this week. Khachanov is a very solid player who is not a stranger to good wins in Madrid.
He stunned Andrey Rublev in the Spanish capital in the past and looked on his way to doing the same against Sinner as well. The first set went to him 7-5, which was very impressive to see.
He played that opening set about as well as he could hope because he didn't really give the Italian any chances, and he took his. For a moment, it seemed like the 22-year-old might be in trouble, but he was able to rise above all of the challenges and turn around the match.
It started early in the second when the Italian took a 3-0 lead and then simply focused on keeping that break. Khachanov stabilized a bit but failed to exert any kind of pressure on the Italian, who concluded it 6-3.
The final set was very interesting as Khachanov battled his way to a break point. He would not convert it, which was a huge missed chance, as he would get broken not long after that.
That breakthrough was all Sinner needed to calm himself down a bit, and he largely cruised from that point. The final score was 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 for Sinner, who completed a pretty solid comeback.
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