Retribution for Medvedev: how Khachanov defeated Korda on refusal and reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open

Revival of Khachanov

The victory over Daniil Medvedev, if not elevated Sebastian Korda to the status of the main opening of the tournament in Melbourne, then forced him to be considered as a serious contender for winning a ticket to the semi-finals.

Even though until 2023 the American had never crossed the fourth round barrier in the majors, the bookmakers considered him the favorite of the match with Karen Khachanov, who had previously lost to him in two out of three meetings.

In 2021, the Russian was stronger at Wimbledon, but then he was beaten twice in two sets: first at the Masters in Cincinnati, and then at more modest competitions in Antwerp.

Apparently, therefore, on the eve of the fight, experts were rather cautious in assessing Khachanov's prospects.

As Andrey Olkhovsky, the winner of two TBSH tournaments in mixed doubles, said, Karen will have a chance to succeed if he acts correctly.

An extremely tense duel was also expected by the honored coach of Russia Vladimir Kamelzon.

But things didn't work out as predicted.

And it is possible that in many respects the reason for this was the colossal workload that fell to the lot of Sebastian.

Having dealt with the 8th and 11th ATP ranking numbers, Korda showed that he has made tremendous progress and could soon break into the elite.

But it cost him enormous physical and psychological costs.

Duels with Medvedev and Hubert Hurkach lasted more than six and a half hours in total, and Sebastian fought a tense five-set battle with the Pole, which ended only in a tie-break.

And the body could not resist.

The American was only enough for one and a half games, after which he literally collapsed.

Until a certain point, Korda kept in the game thanks to a great serve.

On the first ball, he won the lion's share of rallies (82%), and he looked pretty good on the second.

But even this did not prevent Khachanov from earning three break points at once in the second game and converting one of them.

However, it was not possible to keep the advantage, and the Russian stumbled at the most key moment - with a score of 5:4.

But on the tie-break, he immediately took the lead and took the set on the third attempt.

From that moment on, the American began to show more and more acute problems with his wrist.

For some time, the tennis player suffered pain, but with a score of 3: 2 he called a physiotherapist.

However, this did not bring dividends.

First, Sebastian lost four games in a row, and with them the second game, and then took only one draw of the devil's dozen in the third.

Khachanov made a call to the "steering wheel", after which Korda decided to refuse to continue the fight and thus forced his mentor Radek Stepanek to grab his head - 7:6 (7:5), 6:3, 3:0.

“It’s hard to say how serious his injury is.

I wish Sebastian a speedy recovery… But again, it all depends on what score and how the match goes.

If he had led, maybe everything would have turned out differently and he would not have withdrawn.

There's always that moment of pressure that you exert.

Knowing that something is bothering him, I continue to play in the same rhythm, with the same intensity.

This may have influenced his decision not to continue the game in the third set, ”Sports.ru quotes Khachanov.

As a result, Karen spent less than two hours on the court and booked himself a place in the semi-finals at the second Major in a row.

In the 21st century, this bar was submitted to only two Russians.

In 2001-2002, Marat Safin alternately entered the top four at the US and Australian Opens, as well as at Roland Garros, and from 2020 to 2022, Medvedev managed to do this.

During this period, he has two finals of the Australian Open, as well as a semi-final and a victory in the competitions preceding them in the United States.

Examine the Russians in the next match will be Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated another young prospect who made a lot of noise in Melbourne.

On the way to the quarterfinals, Jiri Legechka crushed three seeded: Borna Coric, Cameron Norrie and world No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime.

And although this time he lost in three sets, he still fought the star Greek.

By and large, the 21-year-old Legechka simply lacked the experience of serious confrontations and the so-called killer instinct.

If in the first segment he offered practically no resistance, then the next two could easily remain behind him.

In the third game of the second set, he had five break points, but failed to convert any of them and was subsequently destroyed in a tie-break.

And in the final game that became, he led 40:0 at the reception, but again failed to put the squeeze on Tsitsipas and broke down psychologically.

Stefanos felt weak and did not let go of the Czech - 6:3, 7:6 (7:2), 6:4.

Greetings from Rybakina and Azarenka

If for men, Khachanov will have to compete with a tennis player with Russian roots for reaching the final, then for women, Victoria Azarenka will face a similar task, because Elena Rybakina became her rival.

Both tennis players broke the resistance of rivals who occupied higher places in the WTA rankings.

The Belarusian tank went through the third number of the general classification - the American Jessica Pegula, and the athlete representing Kazakhstan dealt with the 17th racket of the world Elena Ostapenko.

Both had to spend on the court for about an hour and a half, and their opponents could only seriously resist in one of the two games.

In the debut, the Latvian could not do anything at the reception, winning only 25% of the draws, and even missed her own serve twice.

In the second, although she looked more confident and even took the lead 2-0, she quickly gave up the initiative, for which she paid the price.

Rybakina took four games in a row and did not miss her - 6:2, 6:4.

Pegula immediately began to experience problems.

She lost the first three games, and in the fourth she allowed her opponent to earn six break points.

And although she heroically played each of them, and in the end she herself succeeded in serving her opponent, she was no longer able to make a change.

Azarenka, albeit on the fifth attempt, nevertheless took the set and thereby broke the American psychologically.

According to the results of the second segment, Jessica was content with only one game, even if it was obtained on Victoria's serve.

Azarenka was unstoppable: she hit with the first ball (70%), was sharper in attack (4:2) and made much less mistakes than her counterpart (6:10).

But most importantly, she was ruthless in terms of the implementation of break points.

The Belarusian took advantage of each of the three chances given to her and defeated the American - 6:4, 6:1.

In turn, Anna Kalinskaya continues to fight in the women's doubles.

Together with Caroline Doulhide, she defeated Gabriele Dabrowski and Juliana Olmos and made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (7:5, 6:2).

At the same time, the Russian-American duo continues to demonstrate bright, attacking tennis, surpassing their rivals in the number of actively won balls.

According to the results of two games, they had almost one and a half times more of them (44:30).