Russia’s Karen Khachanov will face the Argentinian tennis star, Francisco Cerundolo in the first round (R64) of the Cincinnati Masters. Cerundolo doesn’t have pleasant memories from their previous meeting, so he’d be keen to turn things around this time. This is high time for the Argentinian to step up and come up with a tougher challenge against Khachanov. The 28-year-old Russian tennis player has struggled a bit in the last few months, Cerundolo needs to capitalize on his opponent’s poor form right from the word ‘go’ to stand a chance in this match.

Karen Khachanov vs Francisco Cerundolo: Preview

Khachanov has won one title this season. He has also reached one SF and one QF in his previous tournaments. However, in the last few months, his performance hasn’t been up to the mark. Even in his previous tournament, he went down against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi quite easily by 5-7,5-7. Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Khachanov can really pull things back on track against the number 28 in Cincinnati.

Cerundolo won the Croatia Open last month and apart from that he has also reached one SF and two QFs this season. On his day, Cerundolo can become a real threat to even his toughest opponents. He defeated Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) by 2-6,6-4,7-6(5) in the finals at the Croatia Open. For him, it will be a big challenge to keep his winning run intact.

Khachanov vs Cerundolo: Head-to-Head

Well, they have met each other five times on the Tour so far and this record is something which the Argentinian wouldn’t love to look at. Khachanov currently leads the H2H by 5-0!

• 2022 Canadian Open R64: Khachanov 7-6(4),5-7,6-3.
• 2023 Miami Open QF: Khachanov 6-3,6-2.
• 2024 Miami Open R32: Khachanov 6-1,5-7,7-6(5).
• 2024 Monte Carlo Masters R32: Khachanov 4-6,6-4,6-3.
• 2024 Italian Open R32: Khachanov 6-2,6-4.

Prediction: Khachanov to win in three sets

As we can see, they have already met each other three times this year and two out of those three meetings took three sets to decide the winner. We can expect a similar fight in this match as well. Now, why we’re keeping the Russian ahead in this epic contest? The simple reason for it is his overall record in the 2024 season. Khachanov has a win-loss record of 22-15 this season, while Cerundolo has managed to record just 22-20. Although, he played well in his last tournament, keeping the Argentinian ahead of Khachanov after looking at their H2H score is a bit tough.

Cerundolo is a player with a lot of temperament and his calmness on the court is something really admirable. His strong forehand and incredible athleticism are two of his biggest strengths. However, his biggest weakness that has recently crept up in his game is the high double-fault counts. So far, he has hit 115 double faults this season. If we look at the numbers from his previous match, although he won the finals of the Croatia Open, Cerundolo hit 1 ace and committed 4 double faults. This points out the exact area that the 25-year-old needs to work on a bit more.

Khachanov’s game, on the other hand, is based on the first stroke off both the serve and the return. He loves hitting big shots and has a strong forehand. Khachanov is 6ft 6 inches and his incredible height helps him to hit down on the ball whenever he has an opportunity to go for a flat-point ender. His serve is his biggest strength and he has hit 254 aces so far this season.

However, Khachanov’s biggest weak point is his backhand. It’s not as reliable as his strong forehand. He’s not too comfortable coming to the nets and these are a few things that Cerundolo needs to capitalize on in this match, but can he beat the Russian and open his account in the H2H? Looks very unlikely at the moment.