Karen Khachanov knocked third seed Félix Auger-Aliassime out of the US Open in the second round on Thursday, winning 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York. The unseeded former semifinalist recovered after losing a 62-minute opening set and controlled the next three, producing one of the most consequential early upsets in the men's draw.
Auger-Aliassime, a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows in 2021 and 2025, said afterward that he began feeling dizzy and seeing spots after about a set and a half. The Canadian said the problem arrived without warning and did not ease as he had hoped. He distinguished the episode from ordinary fatigue or cramping but did not identify a cause, leaving the precise nature of the illness unresolved.
The match shifted after Auger-Aliassime took the opening tiebreak. Khachanov moved 3-0 ahead in the second set and protected that advantage to level the contest. Double faults then hurt the Canadian in the third set, while Khachanov broke immediately in the fourth and built a 4-0 lead before closing the match in three hours and 17 minutes.
Official US Open statistics showed the scale of Auger-Aliassime's difficulties: he accumulated 99 errors, including 47 unforced and 52 forced errors, compared with 60 total errors by Khachanov. The Canadian still won 80 percent of his net points during the second set, but he created too few opportunities to use that strength consistently as Khachanov applied pressure from the baseline.
The result removes a leading contender who reached the semifinals in New York last year and had made the quarterfinals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this season. It also restores Khachanov to the US Open third round, four years after his run to the 2022 semifinals, and opens that section of the draw at the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Khachanov is scheduled to face France's Benjamin Bonzi in the third round on Saturday after Bonzi defeated Peru's Ignacio Buse in straight sets. Auger-Aliassime, meanwhile, leaves New York without an immediate explanation for the physical episode, making medical assessment and recovery the next issues following an unexpectedly early exit.
Comments