Khachanov Reflects on Second-Round Loss to Struff: I Knew What to Expect

The tenth-ranked tennis player in the world, Russian athlete **[Karen Khachanov](https://www.championat.com/)**, shared his thoughts on his defeat in the second round of the ATP-250 tournament in Almaty. Khachanov lost to German player **Jan-Lennard Struff** with a score of 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 3:6.

**»Did Jan-Lennard Struff show anything unusual in this match, considering you have faced each other many times before?»**
**»No, nothing out of the ordinary at all. He plays the same way all the time. It doesn’t matter if it’s against me, McDonald, or Federer. So I knew what to prepare for. I understood what to expect from him. At the same time, you always start from your own game and your initial setup, and from there you adjust. He made some slight adjustments and performed a bit better than I did. In terms of our matches, they have always been very close and quite tough. There are always tie-breaks, scores like 7:5, then 7:6, 6:4, and again 7:6 in the third, and it tends to go on like that. I lost a frustrating match to him in Paris back in 2019 as well. He won that one 7:5 in the third set. So, what else is there to say?»** Khachanov responded to a question from Championship correspondent Daniil Salnikov.