Madrid Masters: Sinner completes impressive comeback win against Khachanov to reach quarter-finals
Jannik Sinner beat Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and will face the winner of the match between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud in the next round
Jannik Sinner fought back a one-set deficit to defeat Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and move into the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters for the first time in his career.
There looked as though there could be an upset on the cards as the big-serving Russian broke in the eleventh game of the opening set before serving out for a one-set lead.
Sinner kept his composure, however, finding the three breaks without reply across the final two sets to close out an impressive comeback win.
Sinner, ranked No 2, will play the winner of the match between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 5 seed, next.
The 22-year-old Italian won against Lorenzo Sonego (6-0, 6-3) and Russian Pavel Kotov (6-2, 7-5) in the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament.
Earlier in the tournament, Khachanov, ranked No 17, edged out Spanish lucky loser Roberto Bautista Agut (3-6, 6-3, 7-5) and defeated Italian Flavio Cobolli (7-5, 6-4).
Madrid Masters 1000, other last-16 results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):
- Rafael Nadal vs. Jiri Lehecka
- Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Casper Ruud
- Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Carlos Alcaraz: tuesday
- Francisco Cerundolo (21) beat Alexander Zverev (4): 6-3, 6-4
- Taylor Fritz (12) beat Hubert Hurkacz (8): 7-6 (2), 6-4
- Andrey Rublev (7) beat Tallon Griekspoor (24): 6-2, 6-4
- Daniil Medvedev (3) beat Alexander Bublik (17): 7-6 (3), 6-4