Pablo Carreño stayed at the gates of the quarterfinals when he fell to Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6 and 6-3 in 3 hours and 21 minutes of play.
Willing to chase the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the fifth time in his career, the Asturian came to his meeting with Khachanov with the confidence of having conquered his first Masters 1000 title in Montreal just a few weeks ago and having overcome on his way to eighth in this tournament to rivals who were not easy (Thiem, Bublik and DeMinaur). And, although he was facing a player who had beaten him 5 of the 8 times in which they had competed, that is how the Asturian began his duel with the Russian: with the determination that the good previous results gave him and the good game that he had been exhibiting Recently.
Playing with a lot of claw, the man from Gijón opened by breaking the Russian's service. His confidence came through confidently hitting angled smashes, volleying short to the line or accurately executing deep passing down the line.
The Muscovite did not have a chance. It was enough for a superior Carreño to maintain that difference to win the first set 6-4.
But things began to change tone in the second quarter. Khachanov got his act together and pushed a little harder, generating break chances in the second game. The Asturian, solid, did not let him convert them. But the Russian began to raise his level, to loosen up and hit harder, and he ended up breaking in the sixth game. Retaining that lead, he leveled the match at one set apiece.
Carreño's belief in himself, which had faded as the match progressed, disappeared completely in the third set. He could no longer compete. He only scored one game, the third, and let his rival overwhelm him until the end of the set, which he delivered without even trying to reach an easy drop, to boos from the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd.
Between sets Pablo slumped in his chair and put ice towels on his forehead, suffering from dizziness and chest pain. The physio came out to attend to him briefly and gave him a pill. With two sets to one against, the Asturian prepared to continue fighting. Little by little, the medicine took effect, because the resolute Carreño came out again from the first set. In the fifth game he took over the service of a Khachanov who had lost intensity, especially in first serves (he only got 44%), to force the final set.
There it was the Muscovite who again put pressure until he got the break in the sixth game. The Spaniard was able to save two match points in the eighth game, but he could do nothing to prevent Khachanov from scoring the victory on his serve.
The Russian tennis player, number 31 in the classification, will face Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals, after he eliminated current world number one and defending champion Daniil Medvedev 7-6(11) in New York. 3-6, 6-3 and 6-2.
