By Chris Oddo | Wednesday April 27, 2017
After enduring a six-match losing streak earlier in the season, rising Russian Karen Khachanov has started to put his game together on the red clay. The World No.56 notched his biggest career win on Thursday in the city that he trains in, defeating David Goffin 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4 to book his spot in the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open.
Khachanov lost a very tight first set in a tiebreaker when Goffin converted his fourth set point, but the Russian took charge of the match late in the second set when he broke the No.5 seed for 5-3. From there he served the set out then broke Goffin again to open the decider.
Khachanov did not give the break back and he finished the match saving all six break points he faced in the second and third set.
The Russian earns his first Top 10 win and books a spot in the quarters, where he’ll face either Benoit Paire or Horacio Zeballos.
In other action on a busy Thursday that saw action delayed at the start by four hours due to rain, Hyeon Chung upset Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-4, to book a quarterfinal clash with Rafael Nadal. The 20-year-old Korean won 21 of 42 first-serve return points against Zverev and broke the German five times on ten opportunities in their first-ever meeting.
Murray Underway, Finally
Andy Murray opened his bid at Barcelona by defeating Feliciano Lopez for the eleventh consecutive time. The Scot was pushed by Lopez at times—as he usually is—but he always won the big points and in the end rolled to a relatively uncomplicated 6-4, 6-4 win.
Murray will square off with either Albert Ramos-Vinolas or Roberto Bautista Agut next. Ramos-Vinolas rallied from 0-4 down to defeat Murray at Monte-Carlo last week en route to his first Masters 1000 final.
Thiem Solid on Clay
No.4-seeded Dominic Thiem eased past Great Britain’s Dan Evans, 6-4, 6-2, to improve to 8-1 on the clay this season. The 23-year-old sets a quarterfinal with Yuichi Sugita of Japan.
Sugita became the first ATP Lucky Loser to reach a quarterfinal this season when he upset Pablo Carreno Busta, 6-3, 6-3.