The most frustrating match at Australian Open? Karen Khachanov scarcely avoids early exit in Melbourne

The match between Russia’s Karen Khachanov and Mikael Ymer of Sweden was probably one of the most frustrating for tennis fans with the number of unforced errors exceeding all possible limits during a five-set thriller.

While the Russian couldn’t ‘detect’ the court lines – constantly sending the ball out, the Swede responded in style hitting the ball into the net on multiple occasions.

During a nail-biting five-setter, brilliant on-court actions were interchanged with unthinkable errors which affected the course of the match where the lead ping-ponged from one player to another.

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In a carousel of errors and lost opportunities Khachanov managed to book a spot in the third round of the 2020 Australian Open taking a hard-fought victory over Ymer 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6.

The 16th seed Russian didn’t experience trouble in the opening set, easily winning it by the score line of 6-2 without knowing that the tenacious Swedish opponent would be a tough nut to crack.

After losing the match curtain-raiser the Swede seemed to adjust to Khachanov’s style of playing as he surprisingly crushed the 23-year-old Russian in the second set 6-2.

Khachanov regained the upper hand in the next set hitting the Swedish rival with powerful shots to take a 5-1 lead, which he wasted however allowing the Swede to make a comeback.

Ymer reduced the deficit to just one game before Khachanov restored his lead to win the set 6-4.

After the players swapped sides on the court it was again Ymer who dictated his rules breaking his rival right from the beginning to create a comfortable 4-1 lead. All Khachanov managed to do was to fight back one break before losing the set 3-6.

The decisive set started on a positive note for Khachanov who not only managed to hold his serve, but also to break his opponent who continued testing the net’s strength and durability with his shots.

However, Khachanov’s celebrations didn’t last long as he immediately lost a game on his serve reviving the intrigue in the match where he had been considered the uncontested favorite.

Mikael Ymer © AFP / John DONEGAN

Continuing the contest of who will make the most number of errors Ymer lost his serve, giving the Russian counterpart a chance to take an overall win, which he squandered failing to hold serve again.

After both players exchanged breaks at the end of the set, the match was stretched into a nerve-wracking tie-break where Khachanov got the upper hand 10-8 to progress to the next round of action despite making a whopping 71 unforced errors during his second-round clash.