Unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal since 2023 when No. 28 Belgian Alexander Blockx retired after multiple medical timeouts while trailing 6-2, 7-5, 3-2 in U.S. Open action Wednesday in New York.
Blockx, who took painkillers due to a rib injury during his fourth-round win against Francisco Cerundolo, was battling upper-body pain during his first career major quarterfinal match.
“I was preparing really well for this matchup and it was not easy, as from one side I felt like I was dominating from the beginning and then I felt he was struggling more and more and it is a mixed feeling,” Khachanov said after the match. “He is suffering and I don’t want to scream, ‘Come on’, but I wanted to keep the energy there. I wish him a speedy recovery. I saw that he was suffering all over his body.”
Blockx retired after dropping his serve in the third set, sending Khachanov to his third career major semifinal, previously reaching this stage in consecutive Slams at the 2022 U.S. Open and 2023 Australian Open. He awaits the winner of Wednesday night’s match between No. 1 seed German Alexander Zverev and unseeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in pursuit of his first career berth in a Grand Slam final.
Khachanov is 3-6 all-time against Zverev and is 2-1 against van de Zandschulp.
“Once you are in the semi-finals, you are thinking about one step forward,” Khachanov said. “I will now watch (Zverev) against Botic and prepare for whoever wins and try to do my best as always.”
Khachanov didn’t make it past the third round in any of the first three majors this year, entering the U.S. Open with a 16-18 record on the year. He now has upset seeded players in three of the last four rounds, including No. 3 Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round and No. 14 Learner Tien in the Round of 16.
Blockx put up a fight in each of the first two sets, even at 2-2 in the first and 5-5 in the second before Khachanov took control with clutch breaks in each set.
Both players hit on just 55% of their first serves, but Khachanov won 89% of his first-serve points to Blockx’s 71% and saved both break-point chances on his serve while converting 4 of 6 on the 21-year-old Belgian’s serve.
–Field Level Media
