French Open 2023: Karen Khachanov Beats Lorenzo Sonego, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Ousts Elise Mertens

Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov reached the French Open quarter-finals for the second time on Sunday with a four-set win over Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, setting up a potential clash with Novak Djokovic.

Khachanov came through 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 to reach his third straight quarter-final at the Slams.

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“I didn’t know what to do in the first set but I said just fight my way through,” said the Russian.

“I served for the third set, got broken and was 4-0 down in the tiebreak. It was just like the last match and I won that anyway.”

Two-time champion and 22-time Grand Slam title winner Djokovic was facing Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru later Sunday attempting to reach his 14th successive Roland Garros quarter-final.

Victory would also give him a place in the last eight of a Slam for the 55th time.

Pavlyuchenkova reaches quarters

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 French Open runner-up, became the first woman through to the quarter-finals Sunday after rallying from a set down to beat Belgian 28th seed Elise Mertens 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

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The Russian, whose ranking has plunged to 333 after a serious knee injury, is the lowest-ranked women’s Grand Slam quarter-finalist since the 2017 US Open.

She will take on Karolina Muchova or lucky loser Elina Avanesyan for a place in the last four.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)