Karen Khachanov broke a dry spell in impressive style on Thursday as he stunned US Open third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 for a place in the third round on Thursday..
Victory marked Khachanov’s first Grand Slam win over a top 10 opponent since June, 2019 and his first here against a member of the ranking top 5..
FAA will suffer a big rankings drop after playing a semi-final here a year ago.
The Canadian said he was feeling poorly from the start. “It’s tough to talk about anything else than how I felt physically.
“After a set and a half, I just couldn’t feel well and was dizzy and seeing spots and couldn’t recover. I thought maybe it would pass, but it didn’t.
“So that’s the end of the tournament for me, and now back to the drawing board.”
Despite his condition, FAA matched his opponent with a dozen aces while striking 43 winners and 47 unforced errors over almost three and a half hours.
“I’ve never felt quite like that. I’ve had cramps before. I’ve felt, okay, tired towards the end of matches, but in a normal way.
“This was abnormal a little bit, and there were no signs in the last couple of days and no signs this morning, as well. I’m not sure. I’m going to run some tests and see what comes out of it.”
FAA missed the chance to become the third from his country to record 50 Grand Slam wins, joining Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov,.
Khachanov completed a matched set of Grand Slam third round spots with his upset win.
Third seed Auger-Aliasime has been playing without coach since his early Wimbledon loss.
But that situation cannot go on for much longer.
“In the next couple of weeks I should announce a name clearly to everybody. It’s moving forward, but for
now I don’t have anything more to say.
“I need to digest obviously this disappointment, but it’s going to take me just a day or two and go back home, obviously talk with the people that help me, doctors, fitness coaches, physios, and nutritionists.
“Then I go back to training.for Davis Cup, which is also important for me. We haven’t played in Quebec, or I haven’t played in a long time, especially in my hometown. Now I’m looking forward to that.”
Ninth seed Taylor Fritz, who lost the 2024 final, dropped just two game as he smothered Italian Mattia Bellucci 6-0, 6-1, 6-1. Luciano Darderi got an win for Italy over Czech Dalibor Svrcina 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
It was the most one-sided win for the Californian in his entire Grand Slam career.
Australian wild card Dane Sweeny got the best of injured Lorenzo Musetti, defeating the Italian who years has been compromised by physical problems 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
