Tokyo Olympics 2020: Karen Khachanov becomes the first finalist of Men’s Singles, defeats Pablo Carreno Busta
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Karen Khachanov
Russian Olympic Committee’s(ROC) Karen Khachanov, who is making his Olympics debut at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, becomes the first player to qualify for the finals of Men’s Singles as he defeats Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 19 minutes and confirms at least 1 medal for him.
This was Khachanov’s 2nd straight-set victory of his 5 matches played so far this week at the Olympics. Coming from consecutive 3-setters, Khachanov didn’t look a bit tired and went on to dominate the entire match against Busta giving him no chance to get ahead of Karen.
Karen hit a total of 10 aces and committed 2 double faults while maintaining a fantastic rate of returns as well. He had a good service game and had to defend a solitary break-point which he was able to do easily. On the other hand, he created 5 break opportunities for himself and won 3 of those, which eventually became the difference between the two players.
Khachanov won a total of 62 points while Pablo managed 41. Khachanov played a well-disciplined game as well, making 15 force and 9 unforced errors while Pablo made 19 forced and 15 unforced errors. Khachanov also had a good game at the net, winning 11/12 net points while Pablo could win only 2/4 net points he went for.
Karen Khachanov only ROC player to qualify for the Gold Medal match at Tokyo 2020
Karen became the first and so far the only ROC player to make it to the Gold Medal match of a tennis event at this year’s Olympics. The Women’s Doubles team, Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova, representing ROC were unfortunate to lose in the semis and now stand a chance to win the Bronze medal.
The Mixed Doubles have two ROC teams in different semi-finals and are guaranteed at least 1 medal for their Olympic Committee even if they lose in the semi-finals as it would then become an all-ROC Bronze medal match. In the semi-final 1 of Mixed Doubles, Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina will be going up against Serbians Novak Djokovic and Nina Stojanovic.
In the semi-finals 2 of Mixed Doubles, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev will be taking on Australians Ashleigh Barty and John Peers. This makes Khachanov the only ROC player so far to guarantee his spot in the Gold Medal match.
Karen will have to wait to know his opponent for the finals as the semi-final 2 between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Germany’s Alexander Zverev will clash later in the day.
Also Read: Marcelo Melo not amused by Novak Djokovic’s “unnecessary” on-court behavior at the Tokyo Olympics
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)