French Open 2022: Karen Khachanov halts Cameron Norrie’s Roland-Garros challenge in third round

Cameron Norrie’s French Open challenge came to a halt at the hands of Karen Khachanov on Friday.

Norrie arrived in Paris in good form following his first tournament win on clay in Lyon, but he passed up a host of chances against the big-hitting Khachanov who produced some impressive play to advance to the fourth round with a 6-2 7-5 5-7 6-4 win.

Norrie struggled to adapt to the pace of Court Simone-Mathieu and weight of shot from his opponent in the opening set.

The No. 10 seed’s play improved as the opening stanza wore on, but two early breaks of serve were enough for Khachanov to edge ahead.

Norrie produced some strong play at the start of the second set and put Khachanov under pressure, but the Russian kept finding an answer with his first serve.

And the Brit was made to regret not taking any of the three break points he crafted early on, as Khachanov broke in the fifth game.

As in the first set, Norrie’s level improved and he secured a break back – only to surrender his serve to allow Khachanov to move two sets to the good.

There were chances once again for Norrie as breaks of serve were traded in the third. The Brit was on the back foot for much of it, but Khachanov blinked as Norrie upped his level to take the match into a fourth set.

Just as Norrie looked set to produce a comeback, he lost his serve at the start of the fourth set and it provided Khachanov with the shot in the arm he needed to secure the win.

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