French Open 2022, 3rd Round, Friday, 27.05.2022
The French Open 2022 is moving towards the first weekend in big steps, the men have reached the 3rd round by now. The duels in which both players are to be considered at eye level are thus multiplying.
On Friday, we will have to deal with the match between England and Russia, among others. Both are in the top 25 in the world rankings, so I would like to explain in my Norrie Khachanov tip why my tendency is towards the Brit!
With the recommendation of the final victory from Lyon, Cameron Norrie enters the French Open. His favourite tournament? Rather not, as last year he reached the 3rd round here in Paris for the first time ever.
He may have lifted the trophy a few days ago, but I still have to take a closer look at his performance level. Against Francisco Cerundolo, Sebastian Baez, Holger Rune and Alex Molcan, there was only one victory in two sets.
Four times before, the Briton had also failed in three sets in a row, so long matches suit him particularly well. One thing he has not yet done at the French Open, however, is to go without losing a set after two matches.
Of course, his opponents were not yet on the same level as Karen Khachanov. Norrie first beat Manuel Guinard 7-5, 6-2, 6-0, then took a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Jason Kubler.
15 Break chances he has already given up in two matches, he will probably not be allowed to do that against Khachanov. The two 26-year-olds have already faced each other five times on the court.
Norrie leads 3:2, but this intermediate score also suggests that it will be close on Friday. The Briton won 7-6, 6-4 in Rotterdam a few weeks ago and two of the five matches have been played on clay.
Cameron Norrie won in Lyon and Barcelona last year. It is quite possible that this is one of the reasons why he is favoured by the German betting companies. With odds of 1.60 to 2.40 on average, he is ahead.
Karen Khachanov, in contrast to his rival, could not hold his own in Paris without losing a set. He got off to a bit of a slow start against Nuno Borges with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
He also collected a 3-1 in the second match when he won 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 against Hugo Dellien. The Colombian put his skills to the test quite a bit, with the Russian not yet approaching 70% of successful first serves in the French capital.
The Olympic silver medallist is not exactly in top form either. At the big tournaments he failed right at the start, a semi-final in Belgrade (wins against Monteiro and Safiullin by retirement) is not a milestone either.
Khachanov had reached at least the round of 16 in Paris four times in a row, but that didn’t work out last year. In the 2nd round he lost to Kei Nishikori after five sets.
My Norrie Khachanov Tip
There should not be the greatest difference in performance between Cameron Norrie and Karen Khachanov. According to my analysis, I can certainly justify the fact that the Brit goes into the match as a slight favourite.
He played the stronger tournaments in 2022 and beat the better opponents. Therefore, I opt for the following tip:
Norrie wins against Khachanov!
