Marin Cilic meets Karen Khachanov in the Round of 16 of the 2022 Astana Open. The match will be played on Thursday October 6th, 2022.
Marin CIlic is ranked 14th on the ATP Tour and is the ninth seed here at the Astana Open. The Croatian star has had a very strong year in 2022, highlighted by his surprising run to the French Open Semi-Finals. Even at an advancing age he still possesses major weapons in his serve and forehand, and a wealth of experience make him very difficult to beat on this surface. A tough First Round win over Oscar Otte did not inspire much confidence, with Cilic proving quite wasteful during the match. He will need to be much better here against Karen Khachanov, with the Russian having an outstanding US Open and will be very confident here.
Karen Khachanov is unseeded here at the Astana Open and has really had a rough past few seasons with many disappointing losses. However, all that changed at the US Open, as he registered a number of impressive wins en route to the Semi-Finals. He played magical tennis seemingly out of nowhere that week, and with newfound confidence he will be a very tough opponent for Marin Cilic. Armed with explosive firepower from both wings, he had a solid win over the dangerous Maxime Cressy in the First Round and will be aiming to take out a second consecutive big server here.
This should be a blockbuster of a match with both men capable of winning here. Cilic has the edge in experience and his serve, and Khachanov more firepower from both wings. It really is a toss up, but when matches go the distance I prefer to side with reliability and experience, with CIlic checking both of those boxes. Expect Khachanov to put up a serious fight but fall just short here, going down in three sets.