By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday January 24, 2023
Karen Khachanov's fine form continued on Tuesday in Melbourne as the Russian advance to the semis when Sebastian Korda retired due to injury.
Photo Source: Getty
Karen Khachanov is becoming a Grand Slam juggernaut.
The 26-year-old Russian has now reached back-to-back semifinals at the majors, after defeating American Sebastian Korda 7-6(5) 6-3 3-0 RET on Tuesday night in Rod Laver Arena.
Khachanov, who has now won 10 of his last 11 matches at the majors, also reached the semis at last year’s US Open, where he was eventually defeated by Casper Ruud in four sets. He will face either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Jiri Lehecka for a spot in the final.
The Russian, a former World No.8, is suddenly displaying the Top-10 form that he possessed at the end of 2018, when he won his maiden Masters 1000 title in Paris, and in 2019, when he reached his career-high ranking.
“I’m feeling good to be honest, really happy about my level, about the way I compete,” Khachanov said. “And looking forward to semi-finals here in Australia for the first time.”
Khachanov said that his belief is sky-high after his performance at the US Open last year, where he defeated Nick Kyrgios to reach a major semifinal for the first time.
“I think I kind of reinvented myself,” he said. “I would say I always believe in myself you know, but there are always ups and downs and sometimes when you have those great results, it just shows you what you're capable of, and then you start to believe more and more. So this belief and self confidence, I think appear much stronger after the US Open.”
Korda’s wrist became an issue in the second set
Korda seemed to be in good shape early in the match, when he rebounded from 5-2 down to force a first-set tiebreak, but the American told reporters that he was having some issues with the wrist at Adelaide two weeks aga, and the problem reared its ugly head again on Tuesday.
“I had it a little bit in Adelaide a couple weeks ago, but then it went away,” he said. “During the matches, it was completely fine. Then just one kind of mishit return, and it started to bother me a lot of after that.”
Korda didn’t win another game after seeing the trainer while leading 3-2 in the second set.
He says he has never had any wrist issues prior to the this season, and plans to have his medical team take a closer look.
“I don't know what it really is,” he said. “I had it in Adelaide and then it went away completely. Now it just came back out of nowhere. I don't know. See a doctor right after this and figure out more.”
The American had a breakout tournament, defeating seventh-seeded and two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev in the third round before taking out Hubert Hurkacz in five sets in the round of 16.
“Say more positives than even negatives,” he said. “Today was tough, but hopefully it's nothing serious and I can take care of it so I don't have it in the future.”