French Open in Paris, quarter-finals, Tuesday, 06.06.2023
Novak Djokovic, this time seeded No. 3, has his sights set on his third win overall at the French Open.
After the retirement of record winner Rafael Nadal, the Serb’s chances are certainly intact, although the world number one Carlos Alacarez is the favourite of the betting companies.
In my Djokovic Khachanov tip, I want to go into more detail about the chances of the Djoker and the prospects of his Russian opponent.
Although Djokovic is not playing at his best level in Paris according to many experts, the Serb has not yet dropped a set in his four matches so far – which distinguishes him from Carlos Alcaraz or Stefanos Tsitsipas, for example.
However, it has also been close at times. The Djoker has already had to go into a tie-break four times, but has always had the better end in his favour.
In his opening match against the American Aleksandar Kovacevic, he won the third set tie-break 7-1. It was similarly clear in the 1st set in the duel against Marton Fucsovics (7-2). After that, he clearly won the other two sets.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner had a really tough time in round 3 against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Spain. The Spaniard forced the Djoker into a tie-break in the first two sets and was only narrowly beaten 4-7 and 5-7. It was not until the third set that the resistance was broken (6-2).
Djokovic finally advanced to the last 16 in comparatively playful fashion. The Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas had no chance and lost 3-6, 2-6, 2-6.
Whether 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov will be able to challenge the Serb more seems questionable.
Djokovic has won eight of his nine matches so far. The only defeat dates back to 2018, when Khachanov prevailed 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the Masters tournament in Paris.
Since then, there have been seven more duels, all of which were won by the Serb. However, the two opponents have only met twice on clay. Djokovic won the only meeting so far at Roland Garros in 2020 in three sets.
Karen Khachanov has had a tough time making it to the quarter-finals so far.
He fell two sets behind in his opening match against Frenchman Constant Lestienne before he finally got going and walked off the court 3-6, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 winners.
Against Moldovan Radu Albot, Khachanov celebrated his only three-set win in the current tournament.
He needed four sets both in Round 3 against Athanasios Kokkinakis and in the Round of 16 against Lorenzo Sonego.
The long-time world number one is of a completely different calibre. The bookmakers hardly trust the Russian to win more than one set.
Bwin offers odds of 2.1 on whether Khachanov will win at least one set.
Summary: Novak Djokovic has not been in top form so far in the tournament, but no opponent has been able to really threaten him.
When it came down to it, the Djoker was always in a position to come back. I therefore expect Djokovic to win the quarter-finals without losing a set.
My Djokovich Khachanov tip is: Djokovic wins in three sets.
