Karen Khachanov edged past Danil Medvedev 6-3 7-5 after 1 hour and 53 minutes to reach the quarter final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters for the first time. Khachanov earned his fourth top 5 win.
Both players traded breaks twice in the first four games before Khachanov converted his second break point in the eighth game after eight deuces to a 5-3 lead and served it out on his first set points.
The second set went on serve in the first 10th games. Khachanov saved a break point at 5-4 before breaking serve in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead.
Khachanov served out the win on his first match point. “I lost a couple of tight matches to him on hard courts. On clay I have not got a title on clay but I have good results on clay. I have reached the quarter finals at Roland Garros twice. I always won matches but did not win the tournament. In a way I think overall my results on clay are better than his and mentally he said many times he does not like to play on it. That gives me extra confidence and maybe on clay the game is a little bit different. I mean it is different and this is the way I tried to approach today. I tried to spin more and move him outside the line. A few differences between hard courts and clay courts. The first thing is to be consistent. I think lately my results have been better and better. Then to think how to beat the top guys and be at the top. These are the things that we have to keep in mind and keep working on. The win today gives extra confidence in my pocket to continue this tournament and to step into the clay swing”, said Khachanov.
