Karen Khachanov vs Novak Djokovic (7-5, 6-4)
Last year, it was Jack Sock who took the Paris Masters by storm. This 2018, it’s Russian rising star Karen Khachanov who surprised everyone with an impressive run to the tournament title.
Even more remarkable, Khachanov won his first ever Masters 1000 title in straight sets, against no other than the in-form Novak Djokovic. The Serbian juggernaut has been on a tear in the second half of the year, and it just seemed impossible to stop him.
Sure enough, Khachanov had luck on his side, but that is not to play down his spectacular performance that resulted in one of the biggest upsets of the year.
Highlights of the game
The 22-year-old Khachanov played way beyond his age and showed great composure to fend off Djokovic and deny him what could have been a record-tying 33rd masters 1000 title and a 23rd straight match win.
Although Djokovic appeared to be on his way to an easy victory—as what the Paris Masters 2018 odds at SBOBET suggested—Khachanov remained patient and hit big to prevent Djokovic from finding his stride. Eventually, the young Russian controlled proceedings and finished the match in just one hour and 39 minutes.
🎾 In case you missed it! 🎾
Novak Djokovic’s 22-match unbeaten streak is over!
The World No. 1 lost to Karen Khachanov, 7-5, 6-4 in the #RolexParisMasters Final. pic.twitter.com/iPZmiN0gGc
— SBOBET (@SBOBET) November 5, 2018
Djokovic got off to a stellar start, jumping to a 3-1 lead with his deadly baseline blows. Khachanov was just no match against the Serb who put a lot of pressure on the Russian’s serves with some terrific defending.
Unfortunately for Djokovic, Khachanov didn’t give in to the pressure and clawed his way back. The Canadian Open semi-finalist bagged 10 straight points to level matters at 3-3 and to make the match anybody’s game.
With the momentum swinging in Khachanov’s favour, Djokovic noticeably struggled. The Moscow native showed nerves while serving for the set and double-faulted to give the Djoker a chance to tie. However, the top-rated star flopped and allowed Khachanov to power his way for a one-set advantage.
It was a different story in the second set, as Khachanov rode on his brilliant opener to stay ahead. Djokovic did play with more purpose and intent in the second, but he was obviously not his usual self and was a step slower—perhaps still exhausted from his three-hour semi-final with Roger Federer.
Khachanov was barely threatened and never relinquished his lead after moving ahead 2-1. He held on as he served for the match and got the championship point when Djokovic sent the ball a little wide off the mark.
“It means the world to me,” Khachanov said following his victory. “I couldn’t be happier to finish the season like this.”
“It’s a breakthrough season. And this title, it’s a good year-end I would say. Maybe I’m not crying, but still I’m really happy.”
Djokovic, on the other hand, admitted that he isn’t feeling well during the match. Nevertheless, he insisted that Khachanov was the better player and deserved to win.
“I am very happy to come to the finals but I didn’t feel too good today,” Djokovic shared. “I would like to give a lot of respect to Karen for playing such fantastic match today and he deserves to win.”
Key statistics
Khachanov overpowered Djokovic, plain and simple. He had 31 winners in the contest and even bagged six of his nine aces in the second set en route to the victory.
The youngster won 80 percent of his first serve points, a huge difference to Djokovic’s 61 percent in that category.
With the victory, Khachanov has now won 11 in his last 12 matches. Making it more extraordinary, his last four wins came against top-10 opponents. He beat the likes of John Isner, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem before going up against Djokovic.
He is also now 1-1 against Djokovic in their head-to-heads, having lost to the veteran in the Wimbledon Round of 16.
Kachanov, who becomes the first Russian to win a Masters 1000 title since Nikolay Davydenko in Shanghai in 2009, rises to a career-high no.11 in the rankings.
As expected, though, most of the Paris Masters 2018 news and headlines are still about Djokovic. After all, the 2018 Wimbledon and US Open champion has now taken the World No.1 spot, thanks to his run to the final and Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from the competition.
What’s next?
Next up is the curtain-closer ATP Finals in London where the best eight players on tour this year will vie it out for the ultimate prize.
Djokovic headlines the event after garnering 8,045 points in 16 tournaments this year. Meanwhile, Marin Cilic and Thiem got the last two spots to complete the final eight.
Nadal, Federer, Zverev, Juan Martin del Potro and Kevin Anderson are the other qualifiers.
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