Ninth seed Karen Khachanov has won his first title in 16 months at the Open 13 after fighting his way past former champion Lucas Pouille 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.
Khachanov, who won his maiden ATP crown at the 2016 Chengdu Open, endured a roller counter encounter in Marseille. Taking on a player ranked more than 30 places higher than him in the Emirates rankings, the Russian fired 16 aces and dropped his serve only twice in the match to claim the win.
“I hope there are many more finals between us in the future,” Khachanov said to Pouille. “I felt I was playing good here from the first day. It’s nice to play on a full court in the final, and I hope to come back next year.”
In a match of fine margins, the outcome wasn’t decided until the very last game. After clinching the opening set, a lost of serve midway through the second revived Pouille’s chances of success. Then in the decider, both men held serve for 11 straight games until the French player buckled under the pressure. Missing out on his first championship point, Khachanov was gifted another chance following a double fault from his rival. The victory was then sealed after a Pouille forehand ploughed into the net.
The triumph comes after what has been a mixed start to the season for the 21-year-old. In his first four tournaments of 2018, Khachanov has failed to progress beyond the quarter-final stage. Suffering loses to Juan Martin del Potro (twice), David Goffin and Philipp Kohlschreiber. He was able to end that run in Marseille by dropping only dropping one set in the entire tournament. Prompting praise from runner-up Pouille.
“It was a good week. Karen is a young player who will be Top 20 soon. Congrats to him. Overall it was a great match,” Pouille said. “Another final is always positive. I hope that I can continue to play well in the next few weeks.”
Khachanov is set to rise six places up the rankings to 41st in the world following his latest win. He has been ranked as high as 29th last August.
As the second Russian player to win the tournament after Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Khachanov finds himself on an impressive list of winners. Other previous champions include Roger Federer, Thomas Enqvist and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
“It gives me more courage, you know, happiness, power that I will be next on this (list of players). Some of them ex, some of them still playing.” He told open13.fr.
“Honestly, it is just a good feeling of course.”
Khachanov exits Marseille with prize money of €115,150 and 250 ranking points.
