Sebastian Korda takes down Aslan Karatsev in epic 1st round match in Paris

Sebastian Korda is through to the 2nd round of the Paris Masters after a brilliant performance and win over Aslan Karatsev 6-2 6-7(9) 7-6(5).

It was a spectacular match between Sebastian Korda and Aslan Karatsev that saw the American take down the Russian in three sets. The match lasted close to three hours and it saw Korda smash Karatsev in the first set 6-2. The American was very solid overall while the Russian was all over place sending balls wide. It was only in the 2nd set that Karatsev found any sort of rhythm but even then he had some issues with consistency.

Midway through the 2nd set Karatsev finally started hitting the ball cleaned which allowed him to take a 4-2. He would give it back right away and after that, both players settled in nicely and we were heading to a tiebreak. The tiebreak was a pretty spectacular one as Karatsev took a 3-0 lead before Korda pulled it back. The American had two match points in it but the Russian held on to win it 11-9.

The final set was a carbon copy of the latter part of the 2nd set. Both players were able to keep their serve even though Korda applied quite a bit of pressure on Karatsev. The Russian was very good at the time but all day long he lacked consistency especially when striking the ball from the baseline. He was able to force another tiebreak but this time around it was Korda who proved better.

The Russian made too many mistakes, especially from the backhand with Korda producing also some timely serves. In the end, it was 7-5 in the final set for a huge win for Korda who desperately needed a match likes this for his confidence which has been lacking lately.