In the 1/8 finals at the Kremlin Cup, Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov will play with Australian representative James Duckworth.
James Duckworth
The 29-year-old Australian in the 1/16 finals yesterday the day before yesterday had a very difficult match against a rather modest Croatian Borna Goyo. Duckworth lost the first set 3-6, but then he was able to pull himself together and turn the tide of the game. There was a moment in the second set when Goyo led 4-2 with a break, but just here James turned on full. Initially, the Australian took his serve, then made a return break and after that he finally crushed the representative of Croatia. After such a set, Goyo could not get together for the decisive game and lost it 2-6.
Karen Khachanov
The 25-year-old Russian tennis player started October at a tournament in Indian Wells, where he reached the 1/8 finals, and there Karen got to Nikoloz Basilashvili, who scored a move, and as a result Khachanov lost the match in two sets – 4:6; 6:7 (6:8).
James Duckworth and Karen Khachanov played together twice. Karen won both meetings with a score of 2:0. In the first match, which was in mid-October at the tournament in St. Petersburg, Khachanov was stronger with a score of 6:4; 6:4. And in the middle of summer at the Olympic Games in the 1/16 finals on Hard, Karen was stronger with a score of 7:5; 6:1.
Forecast
Karen Khachanov is the undisputed favorite in this match. A long pause between matches can still prevent a Russian tennis player from achieving a confident victory in front of his native audience, but for sure Khachanov has prepared well, and therefore you can bet on the fact that James Duckworth will win less than 9.5 games again.