Missed in Paris: Khachanov made it to the 1/8 finals of Roland Garros, but Rublev could not keep him company

Rublev's mistakes

Roland Garros is still unsuccessful for Russian men. Daniil Medvedev was eliminated in the first round, in the second he could not cope with his opponent Aslan Karatsev. And on Friday, June 2, Andrey Rublev left the major. In five sets, he lost to Lorenzo Sonego, although nothing foreshadowed trouble. The domestic athlete calmly won two starting games, and in the second he hung the Italian "steering wheel".

Rublev did not have the first serve (47%), but this did not look critical, because even in such a situation he took his games to zero. However, after the failure, Sonego cheered up and improved the game. In the third set, he did not allow Andrei to earn a single break point, and he immediately converted his first attempt. And this was enough to win the game.

The Russian, on the other hand, began to make more mistakes. This could be caused, among other things, by fatigue: the tennis player's two previous meetings also turned out to be difficult. By the beginning of the reporting match, he had already spent 5 hours and 30 minutes on the courts of Paris.

Unfortunately, Rublev did not manage to get out of the crisis. The fourth set began with the athlete giving his serve to zero, and the number of unforced errors continued to grow.

Thanks to incredible efforts, Andrei was still able to equalize the score in the middle of the game, and then save his game at 5:5. As a result, the strongest was determined in a tie-break, where everything was decided by one single point won by Sonego at the reception.

The Russian also blurred the end of the match due to mistakes - at the decisive moment, he, in fact, gave his opponent a game on his serve.

"The score was 4-3 in favor of the Italian, and the excitement was pinched. I wanted to play aggressively at 30:15. It didn't work out. It became even, and in such a situation you just want to get into the court, it doesn't matter how exactly. As a result, I didn't get there at all. Now I feel devastated," Rublev said in a comment to the YouTube channel "More!".

This break was enough for the Italian to win - 6:3. In the 1/8 finals, Sonego will meet with Karen Khachanov, who remained the last Russian to continue to fight in the men's grid of Roland Garros.

The character of Khachanov

In the match of the third round, Khachanov not without difficulty coped with Thanasi Kokkinakis. As the domestic athlete admitted before the meeting, he is well acquainted with the style of play of the Australian.

"He's a very great player, we're the same age. I remember how Thanasi was the first to enter the top 100 of the ATP. That was in 2015. For a long time he was tormented by injuries — I don't know, physical or psychological — but since last year he finally returned to the tour and plays at a good level," said the tennis player.

"Kokkinakis is always an uncomfortable opponent, at every tournament he is like a dark horse. Thanasi can unexpectedly defeat many top players. The day before, he had a very good match with Stan Wawrinka. I managed to watch the first two sets and I can say that we will have a difficult fight, "the interlocutor of RT admitted.

Khachanov was right: the match really turned out to be difficult. The Australian immediately made a break, and for a long time Karen could not recoup at the reception. But then the Russian pulled himself together and took four games in a row. Although in many ways he was helped by his opponent, who made 21 unforced errors.

The second set was held under the full control of Khachanov. He gave his opponent only one game, and even that with a fight. It seemed that Karen had broken the resistance of the Australian and would now quickly bring the matter to victory. But Kokkinakis refused to give up. He clung to his serve in the third game, and the key was the seventh game with the score 3:3. The tennis players held 20 (!) rallies, the Russian had two break points, but Thanasi still survived, and then he coped with his opponent at the reception and took the set - 6:3.

And in the fourth game for the Russian, it already became alarming. He began to make more mistakes than the Australian, and again allowed him to make a break right away. Karen was able to recoup only by bringing the situation to a critical one. With the score 5:4, he did not allow Thanasi to convert the setball and then took the opponent's serve on the second attempt. In the tie-break, Khachanov again had to show character. Losing 1: 4, he still won 7: 5 and will now compete for a place in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.

"Steering wheel" by Pavlyuchenkova

On Friday, six Russians took part in the matches of the third round of Roland Garros. And, alas, there were some losses at this stage of the Grand Slam tournament. Two Anastasias were unlucky - Pavlyuchenkova and Potapova. They had to play against each other. The match promised to be very stubborn, since the native of Saratov in the women's bracket is one of the strongest representatives of the country. And her opponent, although she had just recovered from an injury, again felt confident on clay courts, forcing Lyudmila Samsonova and Czech Linda Frukhvirtova to cover their rackets.

Quite confidently, Pavlyuchenkova began the meeting with Potapova. She was the first to make a break in the fifth game, but in this way, as it turned out, she only cheered up her compatriot: she immediately took Anastasia's serve to zero, and then, with a score of 5:4 in her favor, she earned two setballs, one of which she realized.

In the second set, Pavlyuchenkova adjusted her serve, the percentage of hitting the first ball increased from 57 to 71, and it became a little more difficult for the opponent to receive. However, the struggle was stubborn: the girls exchanged breaks twice, and the seventh game was decisive in many respects - Potapova gave it away, but could not regain equality again, although she was very close to it. She led 30-0, but the Tokyo Olympic champion in the mixed doubles saved herself with magnificent actions on the back line and won the game - 6:3.

In the decisive, third set, the fight on the court, if you look at the result, it did not work out - 6:0 in favor of Pavlyuchenkova. In many ways, Potapova herself helped her: the tennis player stopped having the first serve (33%), and at key moments when her compatriot earned break points, Nastya made double mistakes - so she gave two of her games out of three.

The Russian woman tried to recoup at the reception, but was clearly in a nervous state, which, of course, interfered. The rallies turned out to be very stubborn, but Pavlyuchenkova, as in her best years, acted more sharply in the decisive episodes, actively winning nine goals against one from Potapova.

The defeat of Kasatkina and the failure of Rakhimova

Kamilla Rakhimova was also unlucky with the lot. She got Aryna Sabalenka as a rival. The Belarusian is having a great current season - at the beginning of the year she issued a series of 13 consecutive matches. And most recently, in the final of the "thousandth" in Madrid, she managed to defeat Iga Swiatek. Therefore, the undisputed favorite in this confrontation was the second racket of the world, which she proved: the athlete gave the Russian only four games (6: 2, 6: 2).

Sabalenka beat her opponent in all respects: six aces against zero for Rakhimova, 27 winners against nine, 72% of the first ball against 54%, no double faults. Camilla managed to impose a fight on the reception in only one game: with a score of 4:2 in favor of Arina in the second game. In it, the girls held 14 rallies, but even here the superiority of the Belarusian was felt, who served right through even with the second ball.

Even less effort than Sobolenko, spent in his match of the third round Daria Kasatkina. The ninth racket of the world in 55 minutes coped with Python Stearns. The American managed to take only one game on her serve, and it turned out to be the most stubborn in the match. At the same time, the Russian woman had a break point in it, but the tennis player could not realize it.

Kasatkina demonstrated amazing accuracy. If usually the percentage of hitting the first ball is 77%, this time this figure has grown to 93%. And most of these draws (23 out of 27) she won. At the same time, Daria made 18 fewer unforced errors (12 vs. 30), which was also the key to her success.

Blinkova's attempt at revenge

In the next round, Kasatkina will face a much more formidable opponent - Elina Svitolina. She coped with Anna Blinkova, who created a sensation in Paris, knocking out the fifth number of the world ranking, Caroline Garcia, from the fight.

Interestingly, the tennis players met each other quite recently - in the final of the tournament in Strasbourg. Then, without any problems, the Ukrainian won. However, this time it turned out to be a more stubborn and nervous meeting.

The Russian confidently started the confrontation. She had the initiative and attacked well (ten winners against five). In addition, Anna successfully acted on the reception, winning 78% of the balls from Elina's first serve. The opponent made a lot of mistakes and as a result gave the first game - 2:6.

The second set was a mirror image of the previous one. Svitolina seized the initiative and began to impose her game on the Russian. The Ukrainian began to pass aces, and the percentage of hitting the first ball when serving increased from 42 to 79%.

As a result, everything was decided in the third game. It turned out to be stubborn, and Blinkova had a chance to win. However, Elina performed a little better at key moments (20 winners against 11 for the Russian). She was also helped by the serve, which by the end of the meeting had become a formidable weapon. As a result, after the exchange of breaks, Svitolina led 6:5 and went to serve for the match. Anna managed to play two matchballs, the game lasted 12 rallies, but on the third attempt, the Ukrainian still achieved her goal.

Fans saw another three-set thriller in the match between Elina Avanesyan and Clara Towson. The 20-year-old Russian was clearly nervous, so she failed to start the meeting, giving two of her serves in a row. The Dane acted more actively: she had 13 winners against four for the Russian athlete. And as a result - 6:3.

However, then Avanesyan calmed down and slowly began to improve. In the second set, she took four games in a row, giving a series of ten points won. Elina also acted reliably in the third game, making only eight unforced errors against 25 for her opponent. And she even managed to serve for the match at 5:3, but became cautious and allowed her opponent to equalize. Fortunately, it did not come to a tie-break. In the 12th game, the Russian caught on the reception and still brought the matter to victory.