Khachanov Defeats Djokovic in Paris Master Finals!

Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov won the first Masters title of his young career. To make it even more sensational, his opponent in the finals was none other than Novak Djokovic.

The 22-year old won 7-5, 6-4, making a huge upset, in which just a few believed. To be honest, Khachanov himself couldn’t believe that he defeated one of the greatest players of all times. The young Russian was overwhelmed with emotions after the match, which he shared with the fans and his opponent.

“It means the world to me,” said Khachanov. “It’s one of the biggest titles in my career so far. I couldn’t be happier to end the season like this, to win against Novak Djokovic, the number one in the world.”

Khachanov too Strong for the Joker

The youngster started the match slowly and allowed Djokovic to reach the first break, in the fourth game of the opening set. But he bounced back immediately, and showed that he also has a solution for Djokovic’s serve. From that moment on, the Russian started playing like he was the 14-time Grand Slam champion. His movement was superb; powerful strokes were pushing Djokovic away from the baseline, and his serve was working perfectly. The statistic is saying that 76% of his first serve ended with a point in his favor. All that paid of in the 11th game, when he managed to break Joker’s serve for the second time.

As soon as the second set started, it was obvious that the momentum was entirely on Khachanov’s side, and that Djokovic doesn’t have the strength to show resistance to his rival. It was 1-1 when he lost the serve for the third time in this event, which was something not seen for a long time. Shortly after that, Khachanov was serving for the match, and he won his first major title. Djokovic had no answers for his energy and inspiration, and the Serbian player had to congratulate the new champion.

The four-time winner here admitted that he didn’t feel well coming into this match after playing for more than three hours against Roger Federer yesterday. The epic fight between him and the Swiss took to much energy, but he also specifically underlined that his condition had nothing to do with this loss. It was all Khachanov.

“I want to talk about how well he played all week. He absolutely deserved to win the match today. So all the credit to him. He deserves it. He’s a young player up and coming. But already an established player, a top player. And he showed great quality today and he showed why we’re going to see a lot of him in the future.” Djokovic said.

Djokovic Reclaims No.1

Starting tomorrow, the Serb will once again sit on the throne of the tennis world, as he jumped over Rafael Nadal, who withdrew from this tournament. The last five months have been unreal for Djokovic, who made a unique comeback, after being absent from the top tennis for more than a year and a half. The journalists were interested in his thoughts on that, and whether is he happy for reaching the first place after this loss.

“I’m satisfied of course and I’m going to be No. 1 tomorrow officially. What more can I ask for? I mean, I won 20-plus matches in a row and had a most amazing last five months of the year.”

For Khachanov, this success means a lot, and he too will improve his ATP rankings. Before this tournament, the Russian was occupying the 18th spot, and after midnight he will be on the verge of entering top 10, sitting at No.11. After winning in Marseille and Moscow this was his third title this season, fourth in the whole career. But if he continues to play like this, there is no doubt that this youngster has potential to replace Djokovic one day, and claims No.1.

Up next we have the ATP Finals in London, starting in seven days.