US Open. Semi-final
Karen Khachanov vs Casper Ruud
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (New York)
09.09.2022. 22:00 (UTC+3)
Karen Khachanov, the 31st-ranked player in the world, and the world No.7, Casper Ruud, will meet in the first semifinal of the U.S. Open. The two men have played each other only once on tour, on the clay in Rome in September 2020. Casper won that match in three sets. It is logical that the Norwegian is the favorite in the upcoming game.
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Karen Khachanov
A strong showing in New York will lift Karen Khachanov into the top 20 for sure, and if he wins the major, he will become the world No. 11! Dashing, but he needs to win two more matches to do so, and Karen already has two 5-sets and three 4-sets under his belt. If victories over Kudla, Monteiro, and Draper were expected, victory over Carreño-Busta was not. And his victory over Kyrgios in the quarter-final was a sensation, especially after the Australian knocked out the current world number one US Open reigning champion, Daniil Medvedev. The match against Kyrgios lasted three hours and 41 minutes and Khachanov led the entire time. During the game, Karen scored 30 aces and three double faults, won 77% of points on first serve and 64% on second, had the following statistics on receptions: 21%/53%, winners/unforced errors 63/31.
"The odds were considered equal. They were 1-1 in their head-to-head stats before that. Karen had one of his best, maybe his best match of the last three years. He served well, with 30 aces, while Kyrgios had 31. That is, Karen did not lose on serve and won statistically on his second serve. He played tactically well. Khachanov played very well, put pressure on the opponent, and did not let Kyrgios get too unpredictable. All in all, it brought him the victory. Karen played very stable serve from the beginning till the end of the match; that was the key to his success. When both came down to the end, Karen had a bigger advantage. Khachanov showed his best qualities; it was fantastic."
Casper Ruud
Casper stayed on the court much less than Karen. The Norwegian lost only four sets before the semi-final, and played a five-setter against Paul in the third round. In addition to the American, Casper knocked out Edmund, Van Rijthoven, Moute, and Berrettini. We expected the match between the Norwegian and Italian to be long, but we were wrong. Ruud played very confidently all game, by and large the struggle came only in the third set, which ended with the Scandinavian winning on the tiebreak with a score of 7-4. In the game against Berrettini, Ruud never served a single fault, won 75% of points on first serve and 50% on second serve, had the following statistics: 36%/54% on the receiving end, winners/unforced errors 20/23. Ruud is already climbing up to No. 3 in the ATP rankings, and if he triumphs in New York, he will become No. 1 in the world.
"Honestly, I had no idea that I had a chance to become world number one, one day, you know, now I'm in the semi-finals. Let's see how it goes. But of course, it's a little bit of extra motivation to dig in and even if you're down on the score [you have] to keep fighting, you never know what's gonna happen. And if I'm very, very lucky, I can leave New York as world number one, so I'm trying to go for it of course."
Head-to-head encounters
Khachanov and Ruud have only played once before, in September 2020 in round of 64 in Rome. The Norwegian won that match 2-1 in two hours and 14 minutes.
Expert Betting Tips
How Karen serves on Friday will be crucial. If he serves like he did against Kyrgios, Khachanov has a chance of reaching the final. If his serve is a bust, then the odds of Casper's victory will be close to 100%. Casper is a very stable player with an excellent serve. Plus, the Norwegian has extra motivation in the form of becoming numero uno. However, Karen has been serving very dashingly throughout the major, so it's unlikely he'll fail in the semifinals. The only thing that can stop him is the physical component. After all, Khachanov has already played two 5-sets, which has probably been tiring at least. Here are the betting options:
Total Over (40.5) for 1.89 at 1xbet;
W2+TO (3.5) for 2.33 at 22bet;
Correct Score 1-3 for 4.00 at Bet365.
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