Karen Khachanov lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in their semifinal in Melbourne
Russia’s remaining hope of men’s title success at the Australian Open came to an end as Karen Khachanov suffered defeat in a four-set battle against Greek rival Stefanos Tsitsipas in their semifinal on Friday.
Khachanov was edged out in the opening set on a tiebreak and lost the second set 4-6 as Tsitsipas took control of the contest at Rod Laver Arena. The Greek also found himself a break up and serving for the match in the third set, before Khachanov threatened a comeback by recapturing the break of serve and winning a tiebreak after saving two match points.
But third seed Tsitsipas again imposed himself in the fourth set with an early break, going on to seal victory 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 in a match spanning three hours and 21 minutes.
For 18th seed Khachanov the result means back-to-back disappointment in Grand Slam semifinals after he lost at the same stage of the US Open in September.
Despite the defeat, the 26-year-old can nonetheless reflect on another strong run at a major tournament, with Khachanov becoming just the tenth active player on the ATP Tour to have reached at least the quarterfinal stage of all four Grand Slams.
Khachanov’s performance will also help his push back towards the world’s top ten, having reached a career-high position of eight in the ATP rankings back in 2019.
Tsitsipas, meanwhile, extended his head-to-head record against Khachanov to 6-0, but more importantly is into a second Grand Slam final of his career.