Russia

Karen Khachanov

Italy

Lorenzo Sonego

The Russian can beat the Italian and move on

Russia's Karen Khachanov and Italy's Lorenzo Sonego will play in a fourth-round match at Roland Garros in Paris. Who can emerge victorious? These tennis players have previously played each other three times. On clay, the two are evenly matched with Khachanov winning 2-1 on aggregate. In Round 3, the 28-year-old Soniako defeated Andrei Rublev 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in five sets. Lorenzo is a very dangerous and unpredictable opponent. Khachanov expectedly defeated Australia's Tanasie Kokkinakis 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 in the third round. The match started uneasy for Karen, who had already lost a game on his serve and trailed 1:1 to 3. After that Kokkinakis tried to work from a minimum advantage, but with the score 3:4 in games Khachanov added and made a breakthrough, as a result the Russian tennis player won a willful victory in the set due to two consecutive breaks. Early in the second set Khachanov broke the break and took a 3-0 lead in games. Straight after that Karen could make his second break in a row, but this time the Russian player lost his advantage in the game on his opponent's serve with 40:15. Still, at 4-1 on games, Khachanov made a break, which allowed Karen to take a 5-1 lead, and then he competently served for the game. In the third set Khachanov and Kokkinakis initially worked competently on their serves, but at 3:4 on games, Karen stumbled and lost a game on his serve, with Kokkinakis eventually leading 5:3 and right after that Tanasi confidently served for the set. Early in the fourth set, Khachanov lost a game on his serve and settled for a 0-2 game lead. Kokkinakis confidently served to win the set, but at the crucial moment Karen pulled himself together and broke back and saved the set. It came down to a tie-break, with Karen leading 1-4 at one point, but the Russian finally got the better of Kokkinakis and didn't go on to take the match to the fifth set. The two players have been on the court for three hours and 45 minutes. It will be a hotly contested match. Soniego will put up a good fight against the Russian. However, the favourite will not falter and will please his fans. We need to bet on Khachanov's victory.