Last year at Roland Garros, Aslan Karatsev was outside the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings and he fell in the third round of qualifying. This edition, however, the Russian arrived in Paris as the breakthrough star of the season, and he showed why on Tuesday.
Karatsev defeated #NextGenATP American Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 59 minutes to reach the second round, facing just one break point in his victory. The 24th seed will next play one of two veterans: German Philipp Kohlschreiber or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
At the first Grand Slam of the season, Karatsev made his mark with a dream run to the semi-finals as a qualifier. He will no longer catch anyone by surprise, though. The 27-year-old is seventh in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin, putting himself in contention for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in November.
Karatsev has backed up his Melbourne breakthrough with impressive results since, including his first ATP Tour title in Dubai, where he defeated Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner along the way.
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The Russian faced few difficulties against Brooksby, a qualifier who has lifted three ATP Challenger Tour trophies this year. Karatsev played a clean, aggressive match, crushing 34 winners to just 20 unforced errors to keep the American from finding a way into the match.
Brooksby earned his lone service break in the third set, but the 24th seed quickly responded and closed out the match in straight sets. Last year at Roland Garros, fans might not have recognised him. But as he departed Court 8, the small group of fans in attendance due to COVID-19 restrictions shouted “Aslan!” in the hopes of getting a selfie from the stands.
Did You Know?
Karatsev made his first clay-court ATP Final in Belgrade this year, and in 2020 he won two ATP Challenger Tour titles on the surface.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3wLaeYU
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