Russian ace Karen Khachanov caused one of the shocks of the tennis year by overpowering Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 in the Paris Masters final to end the Serbian’s remarkable spell of dominance in the men’s game.
The 22-year-old has for some time been seen as one of the rising young talents of the sport but few could have envisaged his demolition on Sunday of the Serbian superstar, who was on a three-month, 22-match winning streak.
Djokovic was expected to celebrate his return to world No.1 on Monday with a record-extending fifth Paris title but he went down in one hour 37 minutes amid a hail of 31 crushing winners from the Muscovite’s racket.
“To finish my season like this is a dream,” Khachanov told the crowd in the Bercy arena, explaining how Djokovic had always been an inspiration to him.
He even took a leaf out of the Serb’s book of celebrations by bending down to kiss the Centre Court.
Khachanov, a strapping 198cm huge hitter with surprisingly fleet movement around the court, took advantage of Djokovic being a little under-the-weather after a week struggling with flu-like symptoms.
Yet even though the Serb admitted he was not feeling his best after his epic three-hour win over Roger Federer in Saturday’s semi-final, he had nothing but praise for the outstanding quality of Khachanov’s attacking game.
“All credit to Karen, he did a great job today. He deserves the trophy,” Djokovic told the crowd.
Earning his fourth straight win over a top-10 player this week, Khachanov, whose muscular game resembles that of his childhood hero Marat Safin, a Russian three-times winner in Paris, picked up the biggest title of his burgeoning career.
It was his third triumph of the year, all on indoor hard courts, and will rocket Khachanov from 18th in the world to a career-high 11th on Monday.
Even better news for a sport always on the look-out for the next bright young thing to challenge the established order of Djokovic, Federer and Rafa Nadal, Khachanov looks to have the equipment to offer them a real threat.
“I’m sure we’ll see a lot of great games from him in the future,” conceded Djokovic.
The only previous time they had met, Djokovic crushed the Russian in straight sets at Wimbledon and, momentarily, it seemed as if the same fate could await Khachanov again as he was out-rallied to go 3-1 down in the opening set.
Instead, up against a great champion who was looking for a fourth consecutive tournament win, following his victories at the Cincinatti Masters, the US Open and the Shanghai Masters, he immediately broke back.
Khachanov redoubled his attacking intent, while not giving up another break point in the rest of the match with his efficient, heavy serving.
Constantly keeping the master of defence on the back foot, he converted a decisive break point at 5-5 with an irretrievable backhand at full stretch before taking the set in 57 minutes.
Then, with Djokovic clearly breathing harder, he earned the decisive break to go 2-1 up in the second set after Djokovic had pushed a weary-looking backhand into the net.