Khachanov lines up Zverev, Rafa advances
HARD-HITTING Russian Karen Khachanov knocked out France’s No 1 player Lucas Pouille 6-3 7-5 6-3 in the French Open third round after the rain-hit match resumed on Saturday.
Khachanov, who will be in the last 16 for the second year in a row, always had 15th seed Pouille on the back foot and now takes on German “wunderkind” Alexander Zverev.
The match was interrupted by rain on Friday with world number 38 Khachanov having won the first two sets and the Russian was just as focused when play started again on Court Philippe Chatrier on Saturday.
“It was tough to be interrupted, you think about the match all night, it was really difficult for the both of us,” said Khachanov, who had already beaten Pouille in the final of the Marseille Open this year.
Khachanov trains in Spain and has a lot of claycourt practice under his belt which told against Pouille, who appeared exhausted on Friday after just two sets.
The Frenchman had threatened a comeback in the second set when he broke for 4-2, but Khachanov stayed ice cool and broke back, then won 11 of the 17 remaining games.
He ended the contest with an exquisite lob to claim an emphatic win.
Italian maverick Fabio Fognini edged a topsy-turvy five-setter against British No 1 Kyle Edmund to reach the fourth round.
King of the unpredictable, the 18th seed mixed dazzling brilliance with careless errors and even lost 16 points in a row at one stage before prevailing 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Edmund’s level also fluctuated throughout the threehour 34 minute contest in which both players needed medical time-outs.
After breaks were swapped like hot potatoes in the opening four sets, the decider went with service until Australian Open semifinalist Edmund stepped up to serve at 4-5.
The 23-year-old then buckled, going 0-40 down, and although he saved one match point, Fognini forced the error on the next to reach the last 16 for only the second time on his 11th appearance at Roland Garros.
With Marco Cecchinato also through, Italy has two players in the fourth round here for the first time since Corrado Barazzutti and Adriano Panatta survived that far in 1976.
Rafael Nadal continued his bid for an 11th French Open title on Saturday by brushing aside home favourite Richard Gasquet to claim a 16th consecutive win over his childhood friend and reach the fourth round.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion has still never lost to his old junior rival at Tour level, after easing to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 31-year-old took his run of consecutive completed sets at the French Open to 34, just seven shy of the record held by Bjorn Borg between 1979 and 1981.
Nadal, who lost only two points in the first five games, will next play Germany’s world number 70 Maximilian Marterer, who beat Estonian lucky loser Jurgen Zopp. — SuperSport