Khachanov reaches Rome Masters quarterfinal after beating Prizmic

Karen Khachanov continues his successful run at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. In the round of 16, he defeated Croatia’s Dino Prizmic to reach the quarterfinals of the competition.

The match ended with Khachanov winning in straight sets — 6-1, 7-6 (7-2). The first set was played with a clear advantage for Karen: he was solid on serve, aggressive on return and quickly built a comfortable lead.

In the second set, Prizmic raised his level and managed to create a much tighter contest. The set went to a tie-break, where Khachanov played more reliably and closed out the match.

There was particular interest in this match because Prizmic had earlier produced one of the biggest surprises of the tournament by knocking Novak Djokovic out of contention. However, the Croatian was unable to repeat that success against Khachanov.

For Karen, this was already his third victory at the Rome tournament. Before facing Prizmic, he had beaten Botic van de Zandschulp and Alexander Shevchenko.

In the quarterfinals, Khachanov, currently ranked 15th in the ATP rankings, will face Norway’s Casper Ruud. Ruud is now ranked 25th in the world but is traditionally regarded as one of the most dangerous players on clay.

For Khachanov, reaching the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters is an important result ahead of the decisive part of the clay-court season and the upcoming Roland Garros.