The tournament in Sydney turned out to be a great warm-up for Aslan Karatsev before the start of the Australian Open on January 17th.

Moreover, due to the coronavirus, the tennis player was forced to miss the ATP Cup held in early January and entered the court for the first time in 2022 precisely as part of the reporting competition on hard.

Yes, and the Russians got quite passable rivals.

His main opponent was supposed to be the owner of the courts, Nick Kyrgios, who received a wild-card from the organizers, but he refused to participate at the last moment.

A native of Vladikavkaz became the first seed and had excellent chances of winning.

True, the path to the final turned out to be as difficult as possible.

If the 78th racket of the planet Miomir Ketsmanovich Karatsev dealt with without any problems (7:5, 6:4), then Lorenzo Sonego and Daniel Evans had to suffer.

However, Aslan still broke the resistance of the fifth and third seeded tournaments, respectively.

The last one was especially difficult.

Their confrontation dragged on for three hours and six minutes, and Aslan in the second set was defeated in a long tie-break, but showed character and later achieved his goal - 6:3, 6:7, 6:3.

Not without scandal.

Evans was dissatisfied with the fact that the Russian took a toilet break between the first and second games.

Daniel so violently expressed his dissatisfaction right on the court that he received a warning for unsportsmanlike behavior.

The rival of the domestic athlete in the decisive meeting was another Briton Andy Murray.

A formidable veteran in recent years, due to injuries, does not closely resemble his former self and is only trying to regain his former form after a forced pause in his career.

For him, the very fact of reaching the final was a great achievement.

On Saturday, the opponents' paths crossed for the first time, but the world's strongest player in the past paid tribute to Karatsev before the match.

He called him a strong tennis player and especially noted his powerful shots and huge calves.

And from the very first minutes, Aslan demonstrated his undoubted superiority over the 34-year-old opponent.

The British sometimes felt frankly sorry.

The once great athlete looked uncompetitive against the background of an active fast Russian.

In the first game, he allowed the opponent to make a break.

The three-time Grand Slam winner managed to win back a double break point, but still lost.

A native of Vladikavkaz, he immediately secured a comfortable advantage for himself and in the future could easily keep it thanks to excellent serve.

In total, in this match, he made four aces and made only one double fault with five from the opponent.

It is not surprising that Aslan took two games to zero at once.

Murray was also traditionally good on his pitch and tried to fight, but he simply lacked speed and sharpness.

Andy simply did not have time to react to the unexpected blows of Karatsev.

And he at the right time made another break.

With the score 5:3 in his favor, he did not shelve the matter.

It is indicative that the game ended with a double blot of the British.

In the second set, the scenario was largely repeated.

Once again, the domestic tennis player immediately secured a comfortable advantage.

In the second game, he took the opponent's serve for the third time, and then left him no chance on his own and led - 3:0.

It was almost impossible for the ex-first racket of the planet to win back in such a situation, but he still managed to once impose a fight on Aslan.

With the score 3:1, the veteran almost made the first break in the confrontation.

He was very close to success.

It became especially alarming when the 34-year-old athlete earned a double break point.

But the Russian heroically managed to play it back, and then did not allow the opponent to realize three more break points on the balance sheet.

Murray had to be punished for such extravagance, which the Russian eventually did - 4:1.

In the future, Karatsev, without any extra effort, brought the matter to victory. He imposed a fight on Andy at the reception (he scored a total of 42% of the points), although he failed to make more breaks, and on his own serve he did not allow the opponent to feel confident. Aslan did not allow even a semblance of intrigue to revive, and in the ninth game he put an end to it. Tennis players played to the balance, but the Russian forced the opponent to make a mistake and ended the meeting - 6:3. As a result, he spent only an hour and a half to win.

The final confrontation was entirely left to the domestic athlete.

He looked stronger than the head of the British and, having made three games, took over.

At the same time, the veteran, in fact, managed to create real problems for the Russian only in a single game.

Karatsev, in less than a year, won the third ATP tournament of his career in singles.

In 2021, he excelled in Dubai and Moscow.

Now it remains to successfully perform at the Australian Open, where Aslan sensationally reached the semi-finals for the last time.

To the honor of the Russian, having received the trophy, he first of all congratulated the venerable opponent on reaching the final.

“He has put a lot of effort into getting back into tennis and playing great this week.

I also want to congratulate his team, ”the official website of the tournament quotes the winner.

After that, he modestly thanked his own team for the success and good work, and the fans for their support.

“The atmosphere in such a difficult situation was incredible.

It was not easy to organize the tournament in the current conditions, so I am very grateful to everyone, ”added Karatsev.