Karen Khachanov faces John Millman while Aslan Karastev goes up against Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals of the 2021 Kremlin Cup. Damien Kayat previews.
2021 ATP Tour
ATP 250 Series
Kremlin Cup
Luzhniki Palace of Sports
Selected Quarterfinals- 22nd October
Karen Khachanov 23/100 | John Millman 31/10
Russian Karen Khachanov has enjoyed a strange season. Much of it has been mired in mediocrity. But in amongst the tepid results have been occasional flashes of brilliance. The 2018 Paris Masters champion reached his 2nd Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon. He also remarkably went on to win the silver medal at the Olympic Games. He looked solid in Indian Wells last week, thrashing Pablo Carreno Busta en route to a decent round of 16 finish. However, the 25-year-old will still feel as if he hasn’t quite reached the levels suggested to us three years ago. Khachanov loves the home comforts of Moscow, winning the title here in 2018. He really needed the injection of crowd support in his opening match against the pugnacious James Duckworth. He may need that once again as he takes on yet another persistent Aussie: John Millman.
Millman is no stranger to doing things the hard way. And that is certainly what he has faced this week. The 32-year-old has had to endure two back-to-back three-set epics this week. In his opening match, he was forced to come back from a set down against Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi (in all honesty, I’d never even heard of Bonzi prior to this article). He did it the other way around against Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, winning the first set but then surrendering the 2nd. In short, this week defines Millman. Not the most talented player in the world, the Aussie earns his keep by grinding down to the bone. This will be his 5th quarterfinal of the year (he hasn’t made it through to a semi-final once this season). However, three of those quarterfinals have come within the last two and a half months. Furthermore, the Aussie has the edge in the head-to-head stakes.
Verdict: Khachanov to win in three at 26/10
Millman leads the head-to-head 1-0, beating Khachanov at last year’s Auckland event. I think that Millman’s sheer tenacity will force the best out of Khachanov. But ultimately, I think that the Russian should persevere, especially with the fanatical home support as a galvanising factor.
Aslan Karatsev 26/100 | Gilles Simon 11/4
Aslan Karatsev may be feeling liberated this week after his ATP Finals chances have been virtually extinguished. Cameron Norrie and Jannik Sinner have found form at exactly the wrong time for Karatsev (not to mention Hurkacz). He is also playing at home in an event which he first played in 2012, aged 19. The 28-year-old has enjoyed a career renaissance in 2021, reaching the Aussie Open semi-finals and lifting his maiden ATP Tour title in Dubai. But things have really screeched to a halt for the Russian since he lost in the Serbian Open final. I think that the sheer volume of tennis has caught up with him slightly. That probably hasn’t been helped by his fairly consistent presence in the doubles draw. In fact, Karatsev has been struggling with jetlag this week after he reached the final of the Indian Wells doubles last week. Karatsev didn’t let the jetlag show with a commanding straight-sets victory over Gerasimov in his opening match.
I think it’s fair to say that there were very few expectations for Gilles Simon entering this event. The 36-year-old Frenchman has an unenviable 2021 record of 4-20 coming into this year’s Kremlin Cup. And that includes a liberal smattering of Challenger Tour events. The veteran is a past master of these slightly minor ATP events, especially on indoor hardcourts. The 14-time ATP Tour winner has contested 22 ATP Tour finals. His last final was an impressive ATP 500 appearance in the 2019 Queens event. But age seems to have dealt its final verdict this year. Or has it? Simon has defied expectations with a spectacular showing this week. He pulled off a massive surprise by taking down 8th seed Laszlo Dere in his opening match. He then backed that up with a straight-sets victory over the consistent Mackenzie McDonald. But could he possibly continue that form against home favourite Karatsev?
Verdict: Karatsev to win in straight sets at 74/100
I was pretty stunned to discover that this will be their first-ever meeting. I guess it’s probably due to Karatsev languishing in the doldrums of men’s tennis for some time. I think this one is a slam dunk. Karatsev is just too powerful for Simon from the back of the court. I really wish I could offer something more lucrative than this. But a straight-sets victory is all I can see.
