This will be their sixth meeting (third at tour-level) in a rivalry that Khachanov has very much had the better of, though it would probably be going too far to say that he has dominated his countryman. Unsurprisingly, this pair know each other’s games well. Third seed Karen Khachanov has not found things quite so straightforward, with the Russian having to dig deep to get past a spirited James Duckworth and then John Millman.
Aslan Karatsev, the second seed, has made light work of his first two opponents – Egor Gerasimov and Gilles Simon – beating both for the loss of only seven games. One suspects that this will be the main event of the day as far as the Moscow crowd are concerned. But there as now, Cilic’s power should ultimately be the difference.Įmbed from Getty Images Karen Khachanov vs Aslan Karatsev Berankis has quality of his own, including an excellent return of serve, and he troubled Cilic in their only previous meeting, taking him the distance at Wimbledon in 2015. The Croatian has weapons that none of Berankis’ previous opponents in Moscow have possessed, with Cilic’s serve and forehand a particularly formidable one-two punch.
Will he be able to contain Cilic so easily? It does not look likely. Adrian Mannarino offered slightly more resistance in the quarterfinals, but Berankis was still largely untroubled in winning 6-2 7-6.
He thrashed home hope Evgeny Donskoy in the first round of the main draw before scoring an equally dominant win over Federico Coria of Argentina. Ricardas Berankis, meanwhile, fell just short in the final round of qualifying, losing to Borna Gojo in three sets before being handed a reprieve as a lucky loser.