Karen Khachanov cruised through to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-0,6-0,7-6 victory against Yoshihito Nishioka
Karen Khachanov decimated Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0,6-0,7-6 in the fourth round of the Australian Open. The match has caught the attention of fans on social media for different reasons though. Viewers on television or other platforms could see the Japanese flag beside Nishioka’s name while the space beside Khachanov’s name was left vacant as the use of Russian flag is banned the ITF since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. It appeared to viewers as if the red spot at the centre of the Japanese flag was an indicator of who was serving.
Fans didn’t miss the opportunity to point out this fact on social media. “Nice of you to not use 6-0 6-0 in this screenshot”, joked a user. “It’s a target judging by the score”, read a funny comment from another fan. While the match was utterly one-sided, fans got themselves a talking point from the match thanks to the scoreboard graphics.
Khachanov cruised through to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after a dominating straight sets win against Nishioka. The Russian ace won the first fourteen games of the match to cap off a scintillating display against the number one Japanese player. The 18th seed is now scheduled to face America’s Sebastian Korda in the quarters on January 24.
With this win against Nishioka, Khachanov has now become the 50th player in the Open Era to advance to the quarter-finals at all four Grand Slams. Speaking after the match, the elated Russian said: “First two sets I didn’t know what was going on, but it’s never easy when you are going with the score too easy. You feel it.” He further added: “Then at one point Yoshi tried to turn it around, he pumped the crowd and it’s normal. I tried to stay focussed all the match from the beginning until the end. But it’s not easy to win with this score, three sets, so the third set it was a really tough one and I’m playing well, so I’m really happy to go through.”
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