Loss sparks another Kyrgios meltdown
NEW YORK: Karen Khachanov upset Nick Kyrgios 75, 46, 75, 67(3), 64 at the US Open yesterday to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
Russian Khachanov, seeded 27th, fired an unreturnable serve on match point to seal the win over the Australian, who had knocked out world No 1 Daniil Medvedev in the previous round.
Khachanov was better in the intense match’s biggest moments, saving seven of the nine break points he faced, often with his thundering serve.
‘‘Crazy match like I was expecting it would be,’’ he said in an oncourt interview after his second straight fiveset win.
‘‘I am ready to run, to fight, to play five sets. We played again for almost four hours and that’s the only way to beat Nick I think.’’
Kyrgios, known as much for his explosive temper as his blistering serve, came out with surprisingly little energy and dropped the first set when Khachanov hit a perfect lob.
Kyrgios, who has the most wins of any player on tour since June, received medical attention on his left knee before the start of the second set, raising the prospect he might retire from the match when he said he ‘‘could not walk’’.
But he persevered and broke early in the second set, which he claimed with a crosscourt backhand winner as he began to grow more animated, yelling at the players box for encouragement and bringing the crowd to its feet with some spectacular shotmaking.
Khachanov grabbed the third set and the players exchanged breaks early in the fourth to set up a tiebreaker dominated by Kyrgios.
Momentum swung firmly in Khachanov’s direction when he broke to open the decider on a backhand error by Kyrgios and continued to hold serve until the finish.
Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios, who smashed rackets in frustration after the match ended, said he was ‘‘devastated’’ after the loss.
‘‘I feel like I let so many people down,’’ he told reporters.
‘‘These four tournaments are the only ones that matter and I feel I have to start all over again.’’
Khachanov will next face Norway’s Casper Ruud for a place in the final after the inform fifth seed pushed past Italian Matteo Berrettini 61, 64, 76(4).
The French Open runnerup beat Berrettini on clay in July’s Gstaad final and looked just as effective on the hard court, hanging back behind the baseline to absorb the 13th seed’s power.
He and third seed Carlos Alcaraz have a chance at seizing the world No 1 ranking at Flushing Meadows after Medvedev’s defeat.
‘‘Of course it’s a little bit (more) motivation,’’ Ruud said.
‘‘I’m trying to go for it, of course.’’
In the women’s draw, France’s Caroline Garcia is preparing to play her first grand slam semifinal at age 28 after beating 18yearold Coco Gauff.
The 17thseeded Garcia had lost both of her two previous matches against the 12thseeded Gauff, who was the runnerup at the French Open in June, but was by far the better player in New York, winning their quarterfinal 63, 64.
Eleven years after Andy Murray predicted she would be world No 1 when she led Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros as a 17yearold , Garcia is in the form of her life.
She will now face Wimbledon runnerup Ons Jabeur, of Tunisia, who advanced to her first semifinal in New York with a 64, 76 (74) victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
Garcia has not ceded a set at Flushing Meadows this year and stretched her winning streak to 13 matches overall, including the hard court title in Cincinnati, which she won as a qualifier.
From early on, Garcia played highstakes tennis and put strokes where she wanted, sometimes right at Gauff’s feet, sometimes well out of reach.
‘‘I just go for my shots,’’ Garcia said, ‘‘even when I’m stressed.’’
She finished last year ranked 74th, but now is projected to rise into the top 10 next week.
Garcia reached her first grand slam quarterfinal five years ago and in 2018 hit a high of fourth in the world rankings, but there had been significantly more downs than ups since.
She was ranked 75th in midJune when she headed to the grass courts of Bad Homburg in Germany and went on to pick up her first title in three years.