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Kyrgios wins a 20-shot rally to make it 15-all. Khachanov takes the next. 30-15, two points away.
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Kyrgios tries to pounce on a second serve but can’t quite get the winner, and Khachanov plays a drop shot that almost lands on the net cord before falling over. Double match point.
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Boom. Kyrgios can’t return. It’s over.
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Kyrgios is all sportsmanship as he greets Khachanov at the net. Then a racket meets its demise.
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Khachanov serves. Ace. 6-2 Kyrgios.
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Khachanov serves. Long rally, with Khachanov going for power with each shot while Kyrgios returns with an assortment of shots. Kyrgios finally hits long, semi-intentionally, to put it back on his racket. 6-3.
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Kyrgios serves. Bam. “Forehand forced error,” the statkeepers say. 7-3. I’m going back to the fridge.
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Oh dear. An unforced error from Kyrgios makes it 0-30. Another makes it 15-40, and Kyrgios is speaking angrily again. A long rally follows, and Khachanov has been winning most of those. He does so again.
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Kyrgios seemed to be better through so much of that set. Now he’s down 2-1.
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Kyrgios just makes the absurd look simple. He serves and volleys, with the volley being a shot that travels in a tiny arc over the net and lightly falls to the court.
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But he also makes the simple look absurd. He tries the same shot again and misses. An unforced error takes us to deuce. A booming serve gives him another set point. Another booming serve gives him the set.
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One set apiece. Total time of 1:16. Gauff and Garcia needed 1:37, and they played three fewer games.
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Robert Speed writes: “In the boxing parlance, styles make fights. This is not a good match-up from that perspective. A bit same same.”
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Yeah, it’s a bit like two guys taking turns on a punching bag.
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Kyrgios opens with, wait for it, an ace. He follows with two indifferent points, then hits another ace. His next serve is somehow returned, but Kyrgios easily drives it for the winner.
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But then it’s a couple of errors. A double fault gives Khachanov set point. Kyrgios comes to the net on the next point, and Khachanov coolly lobs to the far corner.
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Just like that, after a set in which the word “deuce” had not been uttered, we have a break, and Kyrgios is down a set. What’s strange is that he doesn’t seem angry. He doesn’t seem dejected. This is just … happening.
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The empty seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium appear to be filled at last, and the crowd roars as the players return to the court from the changeover. There’s also a cheer or two after Garcia misses her first serve – again, not the most sporting of moves. Garcia wins that point but misses her first serve again and hits wide in the rally.
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Ace. My, that was hard. 30-15.
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But another miss – a shot that sails so far past the baseline that Gauff barely needs to pay attention.
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Gauff’s next return is scintillating. Her shot after that is an unforced error. Match point.
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Gauff hits into the net. Garcia is in a semifinal at a major for the first time.
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Garcia double faults, and it’s 15-30. She hits back to 30-30, then hits a clean winner on a three-shot rally for set point.
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For the 100th time in this match (exaggeration), Garcia tosses the ball up and decides against hitting it. But once she resets, she’s a monster yet again, and she closes things out by forcing Gauff to scramble and hit a lob that sails out.
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Gauff and Garcia are comfortably in the top 20 at No. 12 and No. 17, respectively. Gauff is ranked No. 1 in doubles, but she and fellow American/fellow singles quarterfinalist Jessica Pagula were upset in the first round by Canadian Leylah Fernandez and Australian Daria Saville.
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Tonight’s quarterfinalists have met twice, with Gauff taking both. Gauff won in three sets last year in Indian Wells and in straight sets this year in Doha.
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It’s hard to believe Gauff is still just 18 years old. Three years ago, she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon. The tempting narrative is that she’s the next Serena Williams (or Venus), but Gauff’s upbringing is considerably different – rather than honing her craft under her parents’ tutelage and largely outside of the junior circuits, as the Williamses did, Gauff was a staple of the junior scene and reached the US Open girls final at age 13, just five years ago.
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Also, it’s rather unfair to set the bar at “Serena Williams.” That’s like starting a pole vault with the bar set at seven meters.
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Khachanov next faces Casper Ruud, who might be the No. 1 player in the world when this is over. No, I don’t know anything about him, either.
“Now you’re giving me some love – thank you guys,” Khachanov tells the crowd. It’s difficult to tell if he’s being sarcastic.
“We played five sets, four hours – that’s the only way to beat Nick, I think.”
You think that’s tough? I just live-blogged for more than six hours. And I have to get up in six hours.
Thank you all for following along. Get some sleep.
Karen Khachanov defeats Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4
You can hear the strain in their voices as they hit, as if they’re doing a burnout set of arm curls at the gym.
Kyrgios wins a 20-shot rally to make it 15-all. Khachanov takes the next. 30-15, two points away.
Kyrgios tries to pounce on a second serve but can’t quite get the winner, and Khachanov plays a drop shot that almost lands on the net cord before falling over. Double match point.
Boom. Kyrgios can’t return. It’s over.
Kyrgios is all sportsmanship as he greets Khachanov at the net. Then a racket meets its demise.
Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 4-5 Khachanov* – denotes next server)
“Seems like the quality’s getting better,” says John McEnroe. In this game, Kyrgios’ quality is just fine. His serve is nigh-unreturnable.
But he needs a break. And he needs it now. Khachanov is serving for the match.
*Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 3-5 Khachanov – denotes next server)
Second-serve wizardry from Khachanov makes it 15-0, and he adapts to a shot that hits the net cord to dink the ball back over for 30-0.
Kyrgios drives Khachanov back well beyond the baseline and elicits a shot that’s high and wide, like my penalty kicks.
Khachanov winner on a 19-shot rally. 40-15.
I think the entire first set took less time than the Khachanov shot from well beyond the baseline. It lands just beyond the far baseline. 40-30.
Khachanov misses his sixth first serve of the game. Doesn’t matter. Hold.
Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 3-4 Khachanov* – denotes next server)
Kyrgios digs himself an 0-30 hole, than responds with his 30th ace. Khachanov also has 30.
Then Kyrgios hits long in a short rally. Two break points, and he’s arguing with ghosts.
Fault. Uh oh.
So how about a second-serve ace? No problem. 30-40.
Then a second-serve changeup that disrupts Khachanov’s timing. Deuce.
Khachnov hits a wayward shot. Ad-Kyrgios.
Another artistic second serve, and then a daring drop shot that leave Khachnov stuck on the baseline. Hold.
*Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 2-4 Khachanov – denotes next server)
Some sweet shot-making and a 40-30 score, but Khachanov again closes it out.
Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 2-3 Khachanov* – denotes next server)
I’ll never understand how tennis players can play for three hours and still uncork shots in the 130-mph range. But Kyrgios does just that for a routine hold.
*Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 1-3 Khachanov – denotes next server)
At 30-0, Khachanov approaches the net. Kyrgios hits one close to his should. Khachanov ducks, thinking it’s going to go out. It doesn’t. 30-15.
Then 30-30.
Then 30-40. A rare sign of emotion from Khachanov. Can Kyrgios break back?
Fault.
Good return, short rally, drop shot from Kyrgios … drops on his side of the net. Kyrgios yells at his team again. Do those guys get paid to listen to him vent?
Khachanov gets another point, but Kyrgios forces another deuce on a magical winner down the line that almost curves around him like a free kick in soccer.
Khachanov gets advantage again.
And then … can you guess?
Ace. And Khachanov yells and pumps his fist.
Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 1-2 Khachanov* – denotes next server)
30-0 after some brief rallies. Service winner. Unforced error. Ace.
Kyrgios has 28 aces and 64 winners. Khachanov has 27 aces and 54 winners. The difference is still unforced errors: Kyrgios 53, Khachanov 29.
*Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 0-2 Khachanov – denotes next server)
ESPN pulls up a cool stat called “return winners” after Kyrgios hits his fourth, a cross-court forehand hit as casually as someone swatting away gnats.
Kyrgios gets to 30-all but clanks a shot into the net to make it 30-40. But he outlasts Khachanov in a 20-shot rally – which has been unusual in this match – and calmly watches a shot land just past the baseline. Deuce.
Double fault. Oh boy.
Ace. Kyrgios applauds.
Bad return from Kyrgios. Then an ace.
Not sure who Kyrgios is talking to, but he just stated the obvious: “The fifth set’s started. You know that?”
Kyrgios 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-6 0-1 Khachanov* – denotes next server)
At 15-0, Kyrgios gets his between-the-legs forehand to work, but loses the point.
Kyrgios continues to play with his cavalier panache, and it costs him again. 15-30.
They trade points, and Khachanov has a break. That rally goes on for a while, and Kyrgios hits into the net. Break.
Nick Kyrgios wins fourth set 7-6
Khachanov serves. Ace. 6-2 Kyrgios.
Khachanov serves. Long rally, with Khachanov going for power with each shot while Kyrgios returns with an assortment of shots. Kyrgios finally hits long, semi-intentionally, to put it back on his racket. 6-3.
Kyrgios serves. Bam. “Forehand forced error,” the statkeepers say. 7-3. I’m going back to the fridge.
Khachanov serves, and this time Kyrgios hits just long. 3-1
Khachanov serves. Ground stroke, ground stroke, ground stroke, BAM – it’s a hard-driven cross-court backhand from Kyrgios, and Khachanov hits wide. 4-1
Kyrgios serves, and Khachanov can’t get it back.
Kyrgios serves. Ace. Quintuple set point.
Khachanov serves. Fault. Then a pretty good rally in which Kyrgios remains calm and Khachanov does not, spraying an overly exuberant shot wide. 1-0 Kyrgios on the minibreak.
Kyrgios serves. You know how you can make a serve-and-volley work? Serve so well that you have the entire court and plenty of time to put away the volley. 2-0 Kyrgios.
Kyrgios serves. The whole crowd thought it was over. It hit the baseline at Kyrgios’ feet. It was apparently still in. Several more