Djokovic is no longer a rival: Khachanov will play with Zverev in the final of the Olympics, the mixed doubles title will be contested by Russian couples

In the semifinals of the men's singles at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Russian fans were waiting for a duel between Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev.

But, to their great regret, the duel of compatriots was not destined to take place, although its probability was high enough.

Moreover, if nominally the third racket of the country defeated Hugo Humbert in three sets, then the two-time finalist of the Grand Slam tournaments lost to Pablo Carreno-Bouste almost without a fight.

However, the mini-sensation that happened on Thursday did not actually affect the development of the storyline, because Khachanov had an excellent opportunity a day later to avenge the Spaniard for his compatriot.

And the fact that the Muscovite left the last two face-to-face meetings on hard (even if one of them dates back to 2018) encouraged and gave confidence.

So in Tokyo, Karen did not leave his opponent a single chance.

The match was even too easy for him.

The Russian made a bet on the firm's powerful serve and high tempo, and he was right.

In the absence of an opportunity to drag out the rallies and exhaust the opponent by changing directions, Carreño-Busta turned into an easy target.

There was no talk of repeating the scenario of the meeting with Medvedev.

Khachanov's tactics fully paid off.

On his serve, he did not allow the nominal favorite to do anything, and won three games at all by zero.

During the entire match, Pablo not only did not make a single break, but only once had such an opportunity - during the second set.

Also, the Russian scored ten aces against three from an opponent and won 26 points out of 28 when he hit the first ball.

The Spaniard also made a lot of unforced mistakes - 15 (nine - for Karen).

In particular, at the decisive moment of the first game, he himself allowed his opponent to put an end to it by sending a projectile into the net twice.

The Russian also acted confidently at the reception.

In the first set, he made two breaks, and in the second - one more.

The final score is 6: 3, 6: 3 in favor of Khachanov.

He spent 80 minutes to win.

Thus, Russia is guaranteed to win the eighth medal in the history of the Olympics in singles.

And if Khachanov manages to win, he will repeat the success of Evgeny Kafelnikov, who won the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“Over the past year, I have had several offensive defeats, it put pressure on me mentally.

But I started to work at the maximum, raised my psychology.

This is an important component, you need to be able to tune in different ways for different situations.

I worked on this part and am very pleased that everything has come true.

You cannot forget how to play tennis, but you need to be able to use your advantages in different situations, ”the Russian said after the semifinals.

For the title of Olympic champion, he will face off not with the first racket of the planet Novak Djokovic, as many expected, but with Alexander Zverev.

The Serb unexpectedly lost to the German in three sets - 6: 1, 3: 6, 1: 6, and interrupted a series of 22 victories in a row.

Moreover, he was defeated for the third time in his career in the singles semifinals of the Olympic tournament.

Two Russian mixed pairs were to come out on the court at once.

Domestic tennis players had an excellent opportunity to organize a Russian final.

But first it was necessary to cope with difficult rivals.

Andrei Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova received the first racket of the planet in singles Ashley Barty and John Pierce as opponents of the Australians.

The latter achieved significant success in a pair, in particular, took second place in the world rankings and took the Australian Open.

The results of the Russians were much more modest.

Pavlyuchenkova never went beyond the quarterfinals of "Slam", and Rublev rarely performed in this form.

The lack of experience affected the duo's actions in the first set.

Anastasia and Andrei did not act very confidently and made many mistakes.

At times it seemed that they simply lacked teamwork.

Hence, there is a serious gap in the number of unforced blots - 5:18.

In general, they made exactly three dozen of them during the match.

Submission rescued.

In the starting game, the pair scored three aces and won 71% of the goals in the first.

But at the reception, Rublev and Pavlyuchenkova did little - they did not earn a single break point.

The Australians made it in the 12th game, although at first they were 0:30 behind.

In the second set, Andrei and Anastasia played much more confidently.

They began to succeed more, and the rivals began to make mistakes more often.

As a result, the Russians won five games in a row, made two breaks and took the lead 5-1.

It was already unrealistic to save Barty and Pearce in such a situation, although they reduced the gap to a minimum.

As a result, the domestic pair had to determine the outcome of the confrontation at the championship tie-break for the third time in a row.

Earlier, the Russians were stronger than the Croats of Daria Jurak / Ivan Dodig (11: 9) and the Japanese Ena Shibahara / Ben McLachlan (10: 8).

Barty and Pierce could not resist, although the ending turned out to be extremely tense.

At first, the Australians secured a small lead, but Rublev and Pavlyuchenkova controlled the situation.

With the score 9: 8, they had a matchball at all, but Anastasia unsuccessfully shortened the ball.

But she corrected herself when the rivals had already earned the matchball.

The Muscovite succeeded in a splendid outflanking shot from the left.

“You can probably say that this is the blow of the year.

In fact, after a mistake on the shortened one, I would not forgive myself if we lost.

I thought I’d just die, but I won’t be able to give in, ”said the athlete.

If Pavlyuchenkova gathered herself at the decisive moment, then Barty wavered and sent the ball into the net twice in a row - 11:13.

Anastasia and Andrey became the first national tennis players to make their way to the mixed finals at the Games.

“Yes, we are in the final of the Olympics, but I still feel like a loser, because I want to play alone,” admitted Rublev.

Soon they were accompanied by Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina.

They beat Djokovic and Nina Stoyanovich in two sets - 7: 6, 7: 5.

After the offensive defeat from Zverev, the first racket of the world was clearly not in the best physical and psychological state, which affected the actions of the entire duo.

However, the Russians showed not the best tennis either.

This was especially true of Karatsev, who could not fully cope with the excitement.

As a result, in the first game, the domestic pair made six unforced mistakes against only two of their rivals.

But she looked more confident in other aspects - 68% of hits with the first serve and 19 actively won goals.

In the middle of the set, the opponents exchanged breaks, but in the future there was no doubt that they would have to play a tie-break.

True, with the score 5: 4 in their favor, the Serbs earned a set point on Karatsev's serve, but did not realize it.

On the tie-break Aslan and Elena looked much better, who calmly took the upper hand - 7: 6 (7: 4).

The second game did not start very well for the Russians - they gave the serve to the opponents.

However, they did not allow themselves such liberties that evening.

In the eighth game, Vesnina and Karatsev "returned the debt" and restored parity.

At the end of the set, Djokovic and Stoyanovic simply lacked the strength and emotions.

With the score 5: 5, they gave the opponents two games.

Moreover, the Russians at the decisive moment managed to take "zero".

The success of the second national duet helped to take place another significant event. For the second time in history, the Russian final will take place in the tennis tournament of the Olympics. In 2008, Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva challenged gold in women's singles.