The remaining first-round matches of the Australian Open involving Russian tennis players have come to an end. In total, three matches were played on January 20, producing a mixed balance: two wins and one loss. But behind the numbers lie dramatic twists, psychological turning points, and important signals for the rest of the tournament.
In the men’s singles, the highlight of the day was Karen Khachanov’s comeback victory over American Alex Michelsen. Despite being the 15th seed and world No. 18, the Russian had to endure a real ordeal. The match lasted almost four hours (3 hours and 57 minutes) and ended 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 5–7, 6–3. The fifth set was particularly tense: trailing 2–5 and 0–40, Khachanov managed to fight back, with the decisive moment coming at 5–3 — a match point against him and a break point on Michelsen’s serve. As Australian Open 1994 mixed doubles champion Andrey Olkhovskiy noted, “everything could have turned around very quickly.”