World No. 15 Karen Khachanov of Russia shared his thoughts after mounting a comeback victory over Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp in the third round of the Rome Masters in Italy. The match ended with a scoreline of 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
“The most important thing is to be fully present in the match mentally, focused on what I need to do. Despite some difficulties at the end of the first set, there was no opportunity on the return — no chances at all. He was serving really well, and I didn’t play my best. Probably, he had just one good game, and that’s how I lost the first set.
“But the key was that I stayed in the match and continued to impose my game. I felt I even slightly raised my level, which allowed me to turn the momentum. When you keep fighting, you manage to get ahead a little in the second set, and I was able to hold onto that advantage until the end of the second set, and also in the third set. I’m glad I managed to outplay him mentally, physically, and in terms of overall game quality, coming from 0-1 down after the first set,” Khachanov said in an interview with Championat correspondent Daniil Salnikov.
